Healthcare professionals call for nationwide rules that would allow GPs to diagnose and treat ADHD to help avoid high costs and delays for patients and families.
Ahead of a meeting of state and federal health ministers in Perth on Friday, medical bodies representing GPs and ADHD professionals have called for consistency in prescribing rules to take pressure off the health system and make access to care faster and more affordable.
This would also free up more time for specialists such as pediatricians and psychiatrists to provide other kinds of care.
The bodies have written a letter to ministers asking for changes so specialist GPs, in addition to psychiatrists and pediatricians, can start, change and continue ADHD medications for adults and children by the end of June 2026.
Criteria for age limits, review periods and transition requirements for child to adult care would be aligned.
The Royal Australian College of GPs and Australasian ADHD Professionals Association would also like GP training to be funded, as it is in NSW and WA.
At their last meeting in June, Australia's health ministers agreed that streamlining ADHD prescribing rules was a key priority.
It follows a federal parliamentary inquiry into ADHD that also backed nationally consistent rules and better access.
RACGP president Michael Wright said GPs use a "whole-of-person approach" and can refer patients to services where they need more support to manage any other conditions.
"This is a chance for health ministers to make sure patients get consistent, affordable ADHD care no matter where they live," he said.
"We have an opportunity to get ADHD care available right around Australia and help patients thrive."
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine president Rod Martin said patient access to care should not be determined by where they live.
"The lower access to diagnosis and treatment for ADHD in rural and remote Australia reflects both the reduced access to non-GP specialists outside capital cities and the difference rural generalists and rural GPs trained in ADHD can make to that access," he said.
Australasian ADHD Professionals Association president David Coghill said the meeting was an opportunity to deliver for patients.
"Making non-complex ADHD care available through GPs will increase access to care, reduce inequality and costs, and improve the lives of Australians," he said.
