The practice will only prescribe ADHD medication for a patient (under an NHS or UK private consultant psychiatrist) where:
- A clear diagnosis has been made
- The psychiatrist is on the GMC specialist register and practising from within a CQC registered clinic
- Appropriate pre-treatment checks have occurred
- The patient is stable on medication (at the very minimum of 3 months), initiated by a specialist
- Regular physical and review checks are attended
- A valid shared care agreement, which adheres to the NICE guidelines, is in place.
Shared care agreement (SCA) needs to be in place for a GP to prescribe and requires both the psychiatry consultant specialist and the GP to sign.
If you are diagnosed and treated under the NHS (or NHS commissioned services) then we are able to adopt the SCA provided by your NHS consultant psychiatrist, if it meets the expected terms as set out in the NICE Guidelines.
If you are seen and diagnosed under a UK private consultant psychiatrist, then your private Psychiatrist will need to agree to, adopt and sign the Sussex Specific NHS SCA in order for the practice to safely take over the prescribing. Without this, prescribing in general practice will not be possible. Your consultant psychiatrist needs to request this from us directly only at the point that prescribing is desirable to be shared.
Patients who arrive from outside the UK will need to obtain their medication from their own specialist. If they require NHS prescriptions, then this will require a referral to an NHS ADHD clinic or for them to seek a private assessment and treatment within the UK. Once stabilised on medication, a SCA will need to be in place before the GP can prescribe.
We recognise that an increasing number of patients are being referred for assessment and being diagnosed with ADHD, which has resulted in increasing NHS waiting lists and patients may wish to consider a private assessment.
The practice does not form an opinion on the use of private services, however it is very important that patients are aware of the potential costs of private services which, aside from initial assessment, investigations and prescriptions, would include ongoing annual reviews and investigations for the duration of their treatment.
Please note that we follow published national guidelines to keep our patients safe, and therefore an SCA will be voided if the patient does not attend a review with a psychiatrist every 12 months or does not attend GP reviews every 6 months and as such we will be unable to continue to prescribe ADHD medication.
Please view our full ADHD diagnosis and prescribing practice policy (PDF) for more information.