Leicestershire dad told there is a three year wait for child's ADHD medication

A Leicestershire dad claimed his daughter faces a three-year wait for vital medication on the NHS.

He said his nine-year-old, who we have been asked not to name, was first diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of five.

The daughter briefly tried medicine to help tackle the symptoms of ADHD at the time but, as it did not seem to be working and due to her young age, the family said they made a decision to take her off it until she was older. She was then discharged from Leicestershire Clinical Paediatrics, which is the only service locally which can prescribe the medication to her.

As she has grown older, the father said her difficulties have become “much more profound” and she is “highly delayed in reading and writing and has behavioural issues on a regular basis”. People with ADHD “can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse” and symptoms can become more obvious when the child has a change in situation such as moving school, according to the NHS.

The family reached back out to the NHS for a new prescription, but the father claimed they were told they would have to restart the process because his daughter had been discharged from Leicestershire Clinical Paediatrics. He was allegedly told they had to see a GP to get a referral back to the service, but there would be a three-year wait for that referral.

The system is “clearly broken”, the father said, adding his child was going to have to wait until she was 12 for a “15 minute consultation to get the medication”. He does not feel his daughter can wait that long and added she was also upset by the news.

He said: “She is nine and has the reading age of a four or five year old. She has an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). She is months behind. She has recognised that she needs the medication to function at this crucial time.

“We are going to go privately. We feel like we have no choice. We know others don’t have that option and are stuck with waiting the three years. If we had to wait that long, it would affect her long term outcomes, her development, her schooling and ultimately her future career options.” He added he was “really angry” about the situation.

A spokesperson for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust said “We do not comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality. We cannot properly respond to this concern without knowing the full details and invite the family to contact us so we can look into their situation.

“Usually a child or young person previously diagnosed with ADHD by our service and re-referred to start medication only, will be prioritised and allocated to a prescribing clinician. Initially, they will be offered an appointment within our medication clinic within 4-6 weeks for treatment to be initiated and stabilised, with ongoing medication reviews then being provided by an allocated case- holding clinician.”