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HEALTH AUTHORITIES IN south Dublin and Co Wicklow are being accused of “closing the door” on adults seeking ADHD assessments, with new referrals “paused” and people facing a four-year waiting list.
In a letter to Wicklow TD Jennifer Whitmore, the HSE said that adult ADHD treatment is provided by the ADAPT service and delivered in the Community Healthcare East area by St John of God Community Mental Health Services.
The HSE’s Community Healthcare East (CHE) serves Wicklow, Dublin South and Dublin South East and the ADAPT team was established in 2022 as a regional specialist in adult ADHD services.
The letter to Whitmore added that since commencing in 2022, the ADAPT team in the area has had a “very high level of demand and unfortunately this has resulted in very significant waiting times, up to four years”.
It was also noted that as of 27 May 2024, referrals from GPs to Community Mental Health Teams “will be paused to address the lengthening waitlist”.
The HSE’s referral pathway for adult assessment is via GPs.
The letter said that it was “hoped that in time a reduction in the waitlist, together with investment in resources and restructuring of the Model of Care, it will be possible to expand the CHE Adult ADHD service and accept new referrals again”.
The HSE designed a Model of Care for adults with ADHD and it was deemed that ten full-time teams and two half-time teams are required.
However, only seven such teams have been established, with two further teams currently in development.
Whitemore, a TD for the Social Democrats, told The Journal that “it’s incredible this vital service is essentially being shut off to those that need it”.
She added: “Rather than focusing on how they can fund and resource the service so it is fit for purpose, they are just closing the door.
“The Government must revise this decision so that everyone, regardless of where they live and what they earn, can access this basic yet crucial assessment.”
In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for the HSE’S CHE said “we have reached a juncture where the ADAPT team is unable to effectively meet the demand for its services within the current resource and service pathway configuration”.
“As a result, we made the decision to prioritise the provision of care for those patients identified as having the greatest needs and the highest risk,” added the spokesperson.
The spokesperson said the ADAPT team is “providing assessments of people who are attending adult mental health services with other mental health difficulties and who are suspected to have co-morbid ADHD”.
People with ADHD have high rates of co-morbid mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
“We are committed to delivering efficient, high quality mental health services in the community, and the ADAPT team continues to work hard to find solutions to decrease the numbers waiting for assessment including looking at new models of care,” said the spokesperson.
They added: “We continue to advocate for additional resources for the ADAPT team which would enable them to reduce the waiting list more rapidly and reopen the service to new adult referrals.”
When asked if the four-year wait and pause of new GP referrals is a nationwide issue, the HSE said it was confined to the CHE area.
However, the HSE noted that there are “waiting lists for Adult ADHD services” elsewhere and that the “demand for these services has increased significantly post-pandemic and has been further driven by the greater public awareness of ADHD’s persistence into adulthood”.
“Wait times can vary by location and we are actively working to manage these lists and ensure that individuals receive the care they need as efficiently as possible,” said the HSE.
In October 2023, Mental Health Minister Mary Butler admitted that ADHD adult services teams would not be expanded as there is no funding for 2024.
Speaking in October 2023, Butler told The Journal: “There is nothing in the budget to expand the ADHD teams for adults into 2024… so I am disappointed this year I won’t be able to continue the rollout of ADHD teams for adults. That’s an honest answer.”
In a statement to The Journal, the Department of Health said that “prior to the inception of the National Clinical Programme (NCP) for Adults with ADHD, which was launched in 2021, there were no specific ADHD public services available for adults in Ireland”.
A Department spokesperson said this “programme includes both assessment and treatment of the disorder and works collaboratively with voluntary agencies”.
The spokesperson said the programme is being “implemented across the country by multidisciplinary teams on a phased basis” and that over €3 million has been made available for funding ADHD posts since 2021.
“It is the Minister’s stated intention to continue to deliver expanded services for people with ADHD, through reaching the planned 12 specialist teams as soon as possible”, said the spokesperson.
They added that Minister Butler has secured an additional €10 million of funding for mental health services in 2024 and some of this will be used for new posts to support ADHD and the rollout of a new ADHD team.
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This president is amazing. MaryRobinson was a great for international relations but this little fella is what Ireland needs now. His articulation is perfect and his ideas are what we should be striving towards. BRILLIANT………..!!!
Nice planet you live on there Al – yourself and Michael D. If you manage to get back to Ireland 2013 join the protests tomorrow evening again austerity, cuts, water charges, evictions, emigration and property tax imposed on us by Michael D Higgins’ Labour, the 4.5% Party
Al, 100 per cent agree.
That flag needs to be out flying in the fields and roads of Ireland so we can reclaim this country from the failed politics of FF, FG and LAb.
These charlatans in the Labour Party have no concept of what the Starry Plough really stands for. The great men of the Irish Citizen Army would be appalled to be associated in any way with today’s Labour Party in any way. Just words from Higgins, if he meant them he would have taken a different journey than staying in the Labour Party for all those years
A new version of Irishness? Is that an app I can download or what? This guy is a joke and the biggest yes man going.
A lot of vitriol in these comments towards Michael D. Higgins who is just about the last person in the sphere of Irish politics who deserves it.
Agree with you Al, but in my opinion he wasted as president, feel like he has a lot more to say but can’t go that far
It must be so easy for Higgins to lecture us, the plebs, on morality and hardship with his 6 digit salary and pension. Then again I can’t say I am surprised, he is in Labour after all.
What do they mean by the ‘conservation’ of the flag? Are they repairing the original one or is it a special ceremony or what?
A new version of Irish ness? One that includes jailing bankers, not paying back illegal gambling debts, and taking care f our citizens first?
Good God…this man reminds me more and more of Uncle Albert every day! How much does the office of President cost us again?
I have a yearning that politicos would cease these meandering, worthless discourses on claptrap like “renewing Irishness” and actually come up with something tangible and workable for once.
Whenever I hear a politician talking about Irishness, I know meaningless navel-gazing waffle is forthcoming and plenty of worthies will be having a good old jaw over four course dinners on the topic, itself a complete abstract and totally irrelevance.
Enlighten us with your philosophy. Anything positive to say?.
That Communist prat is way by his sell by date. He’s not supposed to be “political” so how come he’s not fired.
@William the fact that you call him a communist shows that you have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about
What’s the difference between Higgins and a Communist then?
Higgins constantly talks about being a social democrat for one. He often refers to the need of a defined “social floor”, a floor that people in our capitalist society should not be allowed to fall under. Words over actions aside, he seems fine with the capitalist system as long as there are those safety nets for the most vulnerable in our society. How does that make him a “communist”? (switch off Fox News pal, it hinders your perception)
The only real communists on this planet are Buddhists William, you may have noticed our Uachtarán lives in a big house in the middle of town.
Love that prez
I hope the champagne socialist didn’t show up.
I can only imagine how our Irish Citizen Army heroes feel about how Labour had turned there back on the working classes since the 1980s!
That man lives in a Fantasy world far removed from what’s going on outside the Park
Even though i voted for Mr Higgins it was by process of elimination rather than any admiration,i knew his ideas were socialist left,and me being a free market man who provided employment for people in my life,i still cant get my head around the fact that Ireland admires such people as poets more than those that create the wealth the country needs for its citizens.
Nobody needs wealth Richard. What we need is stability, security and freedom from the shackles of past ideologies. Creating wealth got us into this mess, and it’s not going to get us out. What’s wrong with admiring Poets? I have to say that Higgins was not even on my radar as a politician, but as Uachtarán I think he has come of age.
because the propagators of the free market only care about personal profit. They’re hardly going to be popular in a country where people are directly paying for the collapse of a unregulated the neo liberal, free market economy. I can see where you are coming from in relation to the “wealth creators” but the balance of regulation is so important. A balance that protects the ecomony from wreckless, short term profits while at the same time ensuring that the market is not over regulated, stifling investment and expansion of the private sector. I’m living in Canada at the moment and you can really see how this method (particularly in their banking system) had worked for them in comparison to the “free market” Americans.
Sounds good but the fact is we will only survive as a country by creating jobs for our people.
There is unfortunately no alternative to capitalism as an economic system. It promotes innovation and is highly ptoductive, even Marx acknowledged that in his Manifesto. It is the type of capitalism that we allow that is the problem. Unregulated and unhindered by trade unions it will devour itself. In the USA fir example the average industrial wage has remained static while the income of the top decile has increaded by about 23 per cent. In the globalised labour force capital can be shifted around electronically , undermining the economies of nation states and exploiting poor workrrs, resulting in disasters like that collapsed building in Bangladesh. I for one think President O Higgins is on the money. He is a welcone voice out there in a cacophony of neo liberalism.
I hope he is right in what he says. Capitalism doesn’t believe in society but I do.
Irishness: does he mean the gombeen tendency or the sheep like obedience to the master?
Ya ya ya…… Zzzzzzzzzz.
Although I am not a Socialist, I admire Michael D and I consider he to be the best President for Ireland in these difficult times. The Plough and the Stars is a wonderful historical flag and reminds us of the land where so many of us have come from and the Stars which we look up to on a good night.
Great insightful speech by President Michael D.
It more like we’re yearning for a revolution
I remember last year some criminals sawed off the stars for scrap. Good to see the statue back to its original glory, never gets enough attention.
In what sector in Irish is individualist? The govenment grew under the PDs.
It’s good to see that the president is addressing the important issues facing Irish society today.
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