Some private clinics are charging up to €2,000 for an ADHD assessment as public patients face waiting times of up to two and a half years for a diagnosis.
ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects behaviour such as concentration and time management, affects about 5 per cent of the Irish population.
According to the HSE, about half of all new mental health referrals among adults and children are now for ADHD assessments. Figures provided to The Sunday Times show that the current waiting time for a public appointment for an ADHD assessment with the HSE is up to two and a half years in some areas.
The ADHD in adults national clinical programme’s model of care was launched in 2021. There are seven specialist adult ADHD services operating across Ireland, with four more due to open soon. Data from just seven of the 13 teams shows at least 1,082 adults are waiting for an assessment. In Kerry, the adult ADHD service has been closed to new referrals since October last year.
The HSE said its child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) did not collect data nationally on the presentation diagnosis, such as ADHD, of those waiting to be seen. It said as of June this year, there were 4,424 people on the waiting list for all services in CAMHS. Figures from 16 of the 18 teams across Ireland show at least 1,203 children are waiting for an ADHD assessment.
Smithsfield Clinic in Athboy, Co Meath, which provides a range of mental health services, charges €2,050 for an ADHD assessment for adults and €2,000 for children, and €150 for a consultation.
ADHDdoc, a Dublin-based mental health service, charges €2,000 for a psychological assessment for children aged 12-15. The same fee applies to those aged 16 and over, covering one hour of screening and testing, along with a GP assessment. A 60-minute psychiatry consultation costs an additional €350.
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BetterCare Mental Health Services, which provides a range of supports and treatments, charges €2,000 for a 90-minute psychiatric ADHD assessment, which includes four post-diagnosis therapy sessions.A psychological assessment for children and adolescents costs €1,600, while the adult equivalent is priced at €1,500. Siobhán Rohan, 30, from south Dublin, was recently refused an ADHD assessment by the HSE in her catchment area despite experiencing symptoms for more than ten years.
According to the refusal letter, Rohan’s catchment area of CH07 is currently not accepting referrals for adult patients.
Rohan is researching private clinics in the hope of getting an assessment, but is being quoted up to €1,500, with some operating only online. “I’m surprised there are adults on waiting lists at some clinics because I didn’t think any of them were open for adults,” she said.
Rohan believes she should be on prescribed medication for ADHD. “I honestly just feel hopeless,” she said.
Marie Sherlock, the Labour Party’s health spokeswoman, said: “The reality is that people feel forced to go and seek private assessments because the wait time for public is simply too long.”
Labour Party health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock
NIALL CARSON/PA
Ken Kilbride, chief executive of ADHD Ireland, said there was a “big variability” in terms of what clinics were charging and the service patients were receiving.
“An ADHD assessment should take two to three hours but there’s work to be done beforehand,” he said. “If the patient has the time it should take about half a day in terms of doing all of that. For a qualified, senior psychologist or a consultant psychiatrist taking half a day to get your ADHD assessment is, yes, expensive but not that far out of the ballpark.”
Sarah Cassidy, founder and director of Smithsfield Clinic, said: “We generally do full psychoeducational assessment alongside of our ADHD assessment. We also include observation of the person while they are working through cognitive tasks, we have a whole host of checklists and we access collateral data from various sources. We do clinical interviews.”
BetterCare said psychiatric ADHD assessments were conducted by a consultant psychiatrist. “Prices on a whole, however, have increased: psychometric measures used, licences, insurances — both practitioners and company, rents and rates, overheads, secure platforms, secure healthmail services etc,” it said.