The Doctor Clinics – Private GP Manchester and ADHD assessment service in Manchester have found that ADHD diagnoses – and prescriptions for treatment – have never been higher. The surge has left the NHS struggling to keep pace with demand.
Since 2015, the number of people in England prescribed medication for ADHD has almost tripled. Investigations by the BBC suggest that if current waiting lists don’t shorten, some adults could be waiting up to eight years before they are assessed.
Last year, ADHD ranked as the second most visited condition page on the NHS website, showing just how many people are searching for answers. In response, NHS England has launched a national taskforce to examine the issue and find solutions.
The rise raises difficult questions. Is ADHD genuinely becoming more common, or are we simply more effective at spotting it? Could it even be that the condition is being over-diagnosed?
What’s striking is that this rapid increase hasn’t just caught patients and families off guard – even many experts admit the scale of the trend has taken them by surprise.
According to Dr Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead for ADHD, the explosion in demand has taken everyone by surprise. “No one expected referrals to rise so dramatically over the past 15 years – and especially in just the last three,” he explains. When he first began running adult ADHD clinics back in 2007, such services were rare and only a handful existed across the country.
It is worth remembering that ADHD as a diagnosis for adults is still relatively new. It was only 16 years ago that NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) formally recognised ADHD in adults.
When asked whether numbers will continue to climb, Dr Müller-Sedgwick highlights the difference between prevalence and incidence. Prevalence refers to the overall proportion of the adult population who have ADHD – a figure he expects to remain stable at around 3–4% in the UK.
Incidence, however, is about how many new cases are identified. And that is where the sharp rise is happening. “What has changed is how many people are actually receiving a diagnosis,” he notes. “As more adults are diagnosed, awareness spreads – and that encourages even more people to seek assessment.”
This surge is one reason why many patients are looking beyond the NHS waiting lists and turning to private ADHD assessments in Manchester and online for faster access to diagnosis and treatment.
When looking at prescribing data, the picture becomes clearer. Research suggests that around 3–4% of children in the UK are likely to need ADHD medication, yet in reality, only 1–2% are currently receiving it. This gap points to a long history of ADHD being underestimated and under-recognised.
Professor Emily Simonoff highlights this as a key factor in the current surge in diagnoses. “When people ask if ADHD is being over-diagnosed, the truth is that for years we were actually under-diagnosing it,” she explains. “We’re only now starting to address that.”
Put simply, the rise in ADHD diagnoses doesn’t necessarily mean the condition is becoming more common. Instead, services are catching up with unmet need – which is why more children and adults are being identified and treated today.
For families facing long NHS delays, this is also driving demand for private ADHD assessments in Manchester and online, offering a faster route to understanding symptoms and accessing support.
Thea Stein, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, describes the current surge in ADHD demand as “the Hump.” In her view, the rise in diagnoses – and the rise in people wanting an assessment – comes down to one thing: increased awareness and visibility.
For Stein, the most pressing challenge is tackling the enormous backlog of people on waiting lists. Once that hurdle is cleared, she believes the focus should shift to identifying ADHD earlier in children, so that support can begin sooner and the pressure on adult mental health services is reduced. “I’m optimistic we will move to a much better place as a society,” she says, “but this isn’t something with a quick fix.”
Although the term ADHD may feel modern, descriptions of similar symptoms go back centuries. As far back as 1798, Scottish physician Sir Alexander Crichton wrote about a “disease of attention” marked by “mental restlessness” – what he described as having “the fidgets.”
Today we know that ADHD is far more complex than simply struggling to concentrate or being overactive. Difficulties regulating emotions, managing impulses, and staying organised can have wide-reaching effects, from financial stress and relationship breakdown to higher risks of substance misuse and even accidents.
Experts agree on one crucial point: early diagnosis and treatment are life-changing. Dr Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick, who has spent years running adult ADHD clinics, has seen this first-hand. “There’s always a risk of poor outcomes if ADHD goes untreated,” he explains. “But when we do identify and support patients, the transformation can be extraordinary – people return to education, get back into work, and even rebuild family relationships. That’s why this work is so rewarding.”
With NHS waiting lists still years long, more patients are now choosing private ADHD assessments in Manchester and online to access timely help and avoid the risks of going undiagnosed.
This article is based on a BBC article found here. The Doctor Clinics’ private ADHD services in Manchester agree with the study that shows that statistics suggest children with ADHD in England might be under-treated, rather than over-medicated
