Leanne Marskell

So as a founder of ADHD Works, we train coaches on this executive functioning framework.

And that's because ADHD is linked to over 30% developmental delay in executive functioning skills.

So things like motivation, self-awareness, emotional regulation.

And if you just train a GP, a lot of the training will be like, you know, tell people to sleep better.

Have a look at like, you know, other factors.

To rule out other conditions, it might be like, oh, look at if they are taking drugs or if they are drinking excessive alcohol or if they're having trouble sleeping or if they are having, for example, problematic periods.

The problem is that a lot of these issues are actually symptoms of ADHD as well.

So until GPs are given real strong infrastructure, helping them to feel confident that if they do make a mistake, which is very likely,

It's not going to be the end of the world and there is support in place and they can work with the patients on that.

But right now, I would say that it must be quite scary for them because the options for training at the moment, they are quite limited.

They're time based, not necessarily assessment or competency based.

I think in general, there is a huge focus on prescriptions and a large part of that is

Because that is how the data is collected about ADHD diagnoses.

So there needs to be a way that diagnoses can be recorded by GPs that isn't necessarily related to prescriptions, first of all, because I would say around 30% of people, medication doesn't really work for them or there might not be an issue that they actually need medication for.

And then I think in equities in general, you can do both and what will...

Swing that is how the infrastructure is around the implementation of these reforms.

So it could make the inequities much better, obviously, by increasing support, making it more accessible to people, especially those that can't currently afford to pay to see a psychiatrist.

However, the likelihood of this is that because there is no specific Medicare item for ADHD assessments, the likelihood is that the most complex cases, i.e.

the people who don't present like hyperactive young boys, which the diagnostic criteria is based on,

like women, people from different racial backgrounds, etc., they will likely be missed because there'll be a financial disincentive for them to actually get that support because they might need referring out, they might need more time, for example, and so it might actually make things worse.