ADHD Assessment and Support Policy – ADULTS & CHILDREN – WITH EFFECT FROM THE 1ST APRIL 2025
We understand that many adults are curious about whether they might have ADHD. We are pleased to advise, there is a clear pathway in Bristol for assessing ADHD. You can find all the necessary information about the Bristol Adult ADHD pathway here.
Commissioned Services in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire (BNSSG)
There are currently only 2 fully commissioned services in BNSSG :
Birchwood will provide shared care and ongoing prescribing for the above 2 providers following initial diagnosis and stabilised prescribing. Wait times vary and we recommend you contact the providers or use their websites via the links above for further information.
Private ADHD Assessments and Shared Care with Right To Choose Providers
Patients have the right to go privately or to select a provider on the Right to Choose Pathway. Many people make this decision as they can receive an assessment and diagnosis more quickly.
We are aware that more providers are offering ADHD assessments and then asking GP practices to prescribe the medication. At Birchwood, we do not provide ‘shared care’ or ‘shared prescribing’ with private or Right to Choose providers.
If you choose to go privately or use a Right to Choose provider for an ADHD assessment, you are entitled to do so. However, we do not take on the prescribing of ADHD medication due to the significant amount of variance in referral quality, monitoring processes and the volume that we simply do not have the capacity to manage.
Some of the providers will prescribe for you directly, but it is important that you contact these providers and get their responses in writing. If any of these providers state the GP practice will take on the prescribing this is false. The practice will only do shared care prescribing for AWP and Clinical Partners.
Bristol Children’s ADHD Pathway
Click here for information on the ADHD pathway for children in Bristol. As with Adult ADHD services, Birchwood only prescribes for BNSSG ICB directly commissioned services and not for Right to Choose or Private providers.
School Referral (Preferred Route)
If your child is suspected of having ADHD and is aged 5 or older, the school SENCO can usually assess and refer them. We recommend parents raise concerns through this route first, as the school is best placed to observe your child daily, whereas a GP only gets a brief snapshot in a 15-minute appointment.
GP Referral
If a school referral is not possible, a GP or other healthcare professional can refer your child to community paediatrics. For children with more complex mental health issues, a referral to CAMHS can be made. Please note that a cardiovascular examination is required.
Children Under 5
While children can show ADHD symptoms from an early age, local community paediatric services do not prescribe medication for children under 5 and restrict assessments until they are older. However, families with children under 5 showing ADHD symptoms can receive support through local behavioural interventions, such as the Incredible Years course, which focuses on managing attention difficulties and challenging behaviour. These courses can be accessed without a formal ADHD diagnosis – Link for courses available for Bristol
We appreciate that it can be disappointing to wait longer for a service the practice can prescribe for, but we trust you understand that it is simply not feasible for the practice to deal with multiple different providers with differing policies and procedures.
Transition Period
We recognise some patients will already be on the pathway for an ADHD referral and we will have discussed various referral pathways and awaiting assessments. Therefore, we have put in place a transitional period where we will facilitate shared care prescribing for Right To Choose provider referrals already in progress. Where your referral has already been completed and submitted before the 1st April 2025 to a Right to Choose provider, we will undertake shared care prescribing when the dose is stable as long as there has not been a break in prescribing or contact with the provider for more than 3 months. Where a patient has been under a different provider and has had a break or ceased medication for more than 3 months the patient has the choice to either remain with that provider without share care e.g. arrange own reviews and pay for their own prescriptions; or accept a transfer via the practice to our accepted provider where we are able to provide shared care.
Where you have had your initial consultations and taken forms away for completion from the 1st March to the 31st March 2025- as long as the forms are completed and returned by the 30th April we will undertake shared care prescribing. Forms taken away before the 1st March and not returned will not be honoured as we they should have been completed and returned for a prompt referral before the 31st March 2025.
Patients we are already undertaking shared care prescribing for (practice already prescribing as they have been stabilised) are not impacted by this change in policy – only new referrals.
New to Birchwood Patients
We do not accept continuing prescribing (except BNSSG Commissioned providers) where a patient registers with us from the 1st April having been prescribed at a different GP surgery. We do not accept the ongoing prescribing for prescribing commenced by other surgeries as we become the responsible prescriber when you register with us. Patients can contact their provider and arrange prescribing directly or transfer to a provider commissioned by the BNSSG ICB; or ask their previous practice to retain them as an out of area patient if their policy permits.