In the last few years there has been a huge increase in the number of people getting a diagnosis of ADHD in the private sector as a result of the lack of adult ADHD clinics in the NHS and the very long waiting lists for under 18s.
Most ADHD medications are 'Amber drugs' which means they can only be prescribed by GPs under the supervision of a consultant with whom a 'shared-care agreement' is in place. Consultants are able to prescribe the medication themselves but usually choose not to, and GPs are under no obligation to prescribe amber drugs.
A number of other medications, including some recommended by fertility clinics, rheumatologists and dermatologists fall into the amber drug category.
Safe prescribing and monitoring of amber drugs is very time consuming and there are significant risks associated with doing so. After careful consideration Moira Surgery has made the decision to NOT take on any more prescribing of amber drugs (including ADHD medication) when the request for shared-care comes from the private sector. Out of courtesy we have decided that patients who currently receive such prescriptions from the surgery will NOT be affected by this,although we reserve the right to stop prescribing in the future should we deem this necessary.
If you see a consultant in the private sector who recommends treatment with an amber drug there are three options:
- The consultant can prescribe the medication
- The consultant can transfer you to their NHS clinic and once you have been seen there, your NHS GP can prescribe the medication under the shared-care agreement
- You can get the medication from a private GP
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Unfortunately increasing pressures on GP services with decreasing resources means that we are no longer able to undertake this additional,entirely optional workload to compensate for the lack of an adequate secondary care system.
