Western Australians with ADHD are set to benefit following the upcoming state elections with both the Labor and Liberal parties announcing their election commitment to reduce barriers around ADHD care. The WA Labor Party’s commitment goes one step further, also allowing GPs to diagnose ADHD, which would reduce costs and wait times significantly for struggling families.
ADHD Australia welcomes the announcement and supports allowing more General Practitioners (GPs) to upskill to prescribe ADHD medication to those in need.
“All around the country, we are seeing adults and families experience long and unnecessary wait times and pay significant amounts of money to just get their diagnosis” said ADHD Australia CEO Melissa Webster. “These election commitments give some hope to those in Western Australia”.
ADHD Australia calls on other states to embrace these changes and get behind efforts to reduce barriers to access for the ADHD community and provide more proactive support, including endorsing GP applicants for ‘Other Designated Prescriber’ (ODP) of ADHD medication. In New South Wales, many applications have been rejected, leaving in doubt existing programs to train GPs to attain ODP status.
According to Senior Lecturer and newly appointed ADHD Australia Board Advisor, Alison Poulton from the Sydney Medical School Nepean says this decision will potentially close their model of care. “We have close to 200 patients who are successfully being treated who will now need to be accommodated in other services to continue receiving the care they need. Services that are already unable to deal with the demand”.
Katherine McCarthy, mother of teenagers who are currently being treated for ADHD by their GP says, “Diagnosis and access to medication is lifechanging and having accessible treatment close to home from the GP is a relief – it allows us to talk about ADHD in the context of overall health and wellbeing. GP care for ADHD should be widely available and GPs should be given training to manage ADHD”.
In December 2024, the Australian Government provided their response to Senate Inquiry into Assessment and support services for people with ADHD. Among the 15 recommendations, the government only fully supported Recommendation 5:
The committee recommends the Commonwealth expediate the development of uniform prescribing rules to ensure consistency between state and territory jurisdictions, through the Ministerial Council on Health.
With the gap between states and territories getting further apart, ADHD Australia calls on the Federal Government to urgently address this matter.
Contact: media@adhdaustralia.org.au
