CHILDREN are being “let down” in a deepening stand-off over ADHD care, campaigners have warned – after GPs refused to change their position on prescribing medication despite mounting pressure on services.
Published last week, the latest annual report from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service reignited calls for the introduction of “shared prescribing” for ADHD drugs – a system which allows GPs to handle repeat prescriptions after a patient has been diagnosed by a specialist.
Both child and adult mental-health services have been pushing for this arrangement since 2023.
It would involve adding ADHD treatments to a “white list” of medications that are available to patients at no charge through the Health Insurance Fund – the pot of public money which subsidises GP visits, prescriptions and other primary care services.
But any change to that list would require approval from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which recently stopped short of endorsing a shared prescribing model, as well as backing from GPs.
Plans to add ADHD medication to the shared prescribing list in 2024 were scuppered due to ongoing national shortages and concerns from local GPs.
Following queries from the JEP this week, the body which represents Island GPs confirmed it has not shifted its stance.
Primary Care Body director Dr Bryony Perchard said that “diagnosis, management and long-term follow-up of neurodivergent children is the role of specialist services”.
“GPs aren’t trained and do not have resources to deliver this care,” she added. “Neither is the Health Insurance Fund in a position to fund the services.”
Dr Perchard instead urged the government to “resource the sustainable delivery of specialist care for vulnerable children with complex needs”.
But campaigners say the lack of a shared prescribing arrangement is leaving vulnerable children without timely access to vital medication.
ADHD Jersey founder Rachel Boss said: “I want to write to all of the GPs to say: ‘You have got a duty of care. It’s not just for adults, it’s also children too.’
“Without getting our GPs on board, we are really letting down so many children. It’s a human right. Children should be able to access the medication.
“If it was diabetes [medication], there would be an uproar.”
The JEP reported last week that CAMHS is now dealing with more than twice the number of young people per head than the UK median, with more than 4,200 children per 100,000 population on its caseload.
Waiting times for autism and ADHD assessments are approaching 17 months, while nearly two-thirds of cases are now linked to neurodevelopmental conditions.
Children’s Minister Richard Vibert acknowledged the growing strain, saying services were having to respond to “increasingly complex presentations” and “rising levels of need”.
And associate director Darren Bowring warned of “further pressures” across the system, pointing to rising inpatient admissions and increasing specialist requirements.
CAMHS said it will “continue to advocate for shared prescribing of ADHD medications”, adding that the change would make a “significant difference for young people and families in receipt of medication”.
