Adult ADHD assessments and diagnosis

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is suspected to affect 3–4% of adults in the UK. In recent years, various sources have highlighted significant waits for adult ADHD assessments. However, there is no official list of ADHD services, no agreed measure for calculating waiting times for assessments and no duty to report this data, so the full picture of ADHD assessment and diagnosis is unclear. This research, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and carried out by The King’s Fund, set out to find out what data is available, collected and used to plan and manage adult NHS ADHD assessment services locally. While this is a narrow scope, having an accurate understanding of the data is a vital first step to understanding where improvements might be made.