FAQs

ADHD is a condition where someone displays a range of behaviours including inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. 

While everybody occasionally has trouble sitting still, paying attention, or controlling impulsive behaviour, people with ADHD find it disrupts their daily lives to a considerable and sometimes incapacitating degree.

These characteristics present in a more extreme form in those with ADHD and will have done since childhood. ADHD is a lifelong condition and how it affects individuals can change over time.

People who describe themselves as neurodivergent, meaning a person’s brain processes information in a different way to most people, often display signs of ADHD. They can include:

• Starting many new tasks before finishing old ones.

• Doing just one thing and ignoring every other important task (hyper-focusing).

• Frequently losing things (e.g. phone, keys) and forgetting appointments.

• Drifting off in conversation, unable to focus.

• Being unable to stay sitting when, for example, in a cinema.

• People with ADHD often also have problems with being impulsive (doing and saying things without thinking them through) or with controlling their temper; they often feel trapped and guilty about these things, feeling like it is not what they are really like inside.

• Rejection sensitivity ‘dysphoria’ (RSD). This is when people are extremely sensitive to criticism, rejection or the sense that they have fallen below their own expectations of themselves.

In the past two years, Kent and Medway has seen a rapid 600 per cent increase in demand for adult ADHD services. 

There are nearly 14,000 adults waiting for an ADHD assessment, with the longest wait up to seven years. Waits for medication reviews and post-diagnostic support are up to two years.

More than 4,000 children and young people are waiting for an ADHD assessment with a wait time of around a year.

Over the last few years, demand for ADHD assessments in England has risen at such speed that services are unable to keep up.

This increase in demand is partly due to more widespread awareness of ADHD, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on people’s mental health and wellbeing.

As with all services, the NHS has a finite amount of money to support neurodivergent people. There are not enough providers of assessments to carry out the number that is now needed. 

We are looking at putting more money into supporting people’s needs, while ensuring those with the greatest clinical need who are waiting for an assessment are seen as quickly as possible. 

Some people are seeking a diagnosis to help understand themselves better. There is a lot of support available that will help with this without a diagnosis.

As a health service, we will prioritise those people with the greatest clinical need for assessments.

No. You do not need a diagnosis to get help and support. Many people will not need an assessment if they can access appropriate support at the right time.

ADHD Aware supports adults impacted by ADHD. It is led by volunteers with lived experience of neurodiversity and offers peer support both locally and nationally.

ADHD foundation is a neurodiversity charity, offering a strength-based, lifespan service. 

Children and young people in Kent can access support services via the Kent Local Offer.

Children and young people in Medway can access support services via the Medway Local Offer.    

NHS Kent and Medway is working with NHS providers, Kent County Council, Medway Council, families, carers, voluntary and community sector organisations and people with lived experience to change the way health, social care and education professionals support people who may be neurodivergent.

We are testing new ways of supporting adults who are on the waiting list for an assessment. This means they get support that meets their needs, rather than waiting for a diagnosis. It includes app-based support, online workshops and facilitated peer support sessions. Feedback has been positive about this support offer which we are working to make available to more people over the coming months.

New ways of working with GP surgeries are being developed and we are rolling out projects in schools which will help families to access support in the community. If successful, these projects will be scaled up to support people across Kent and Medway.

With demand for assessments increasing, we know we have to change the way we support people who are neurodivergent, including those with ADHD.

It is important that we talk to people with lived experience so we want to hear from people living with diagnosed, undiagnosed or suspected ADHD, as well as family, friends or carers of someone living with diagnosed or suspected ADHD. 

We are asking for people’s opinions via the survey and some online events. Once they are completed, we will collate the feedback we receive as it will help us to decide what the new support should look like. 

We are looking at ways to provide new and improved ways for people to access help and support, as well as new providers of the services. 

We will share more information on any new services once they are in place.