Multidisciplinary consensus for the development of ADHD services: the way forward

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly studied and diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children. There is a need to engage service development, commissioning and service managers to address primary care involvement and define service models that will enable effective management of people with ADHD. The purpose of this project is to define recommendations through consensus that can be implemented to improve ADHD management in the UK.

A set of 40 consensus statements has been developed by a multidisciplinary group of ADHD professionals in the UK. These statements cover ten topics, ranging from commissioning of ADHD services to optimisation of the care pathway. The aim of the project was to define a set of standards that could be tested across a wider clinical population.

A total of 122 respondents scored each statement on a questionnaire and levels of agreement were summated and analysed. Of 40 statements, only four scored less than 90 per cent agreement, with all statements achieving greater than 74.9 per cent agreement.

Recommendations support the wider integration of ADHD services and the closer involvement of commissioners within the new GP consortia to ensure that the potentially negative societal and personal impacts of ADHD are managed effectively and with appropriate use of resources.