PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(30 January 2025)

We recognise that girls may be underdiagnosed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards in England to make available the appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including ADHD assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

NICE guidelines on ADHD, published and updated in September 2019, aim to improve the diagnosis of ADHD, recognising that ADHD may be under-diagnosed in women and girls, and improve the quality of care and support that people of all ages who are diagnosed with ADHD receive.

We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and support across sectors, and their impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, including timely access to services and support.

Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England will continue to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from local health systems which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.