Healthwatch Liverpool ADHD Report - January 2026

Executive Summary

In recent years, awareness of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in society has increased significantly, as has the number of people seeking help for the condition.

The impact of ADHD on people and their challenges in getting the right support led to NHS England commissioning the independent ADHD taskforce in March 2024.

Healthwatch England produced a report on Adult ADHD in May 2025. This was based on national polling and self-selecting surveys. We in Healthwatch Liverpool wanted to gather a local sample of data to supplement the national picture, to inform our local Neurodiversity Strategic Partnership Board and help shape local commissioning.

This report by Healthwatch Liverpool follows the structure and methodology of Healthwatch England’s national work, but is based on local sampling.

We aim to help NHS decision makers understand the challenges and the improvements those seeking support want to see. These changes include quicker access to diagnosis and treatment, more support while they wait, and more non-medical help from NHS and other teams, including employers.

Key local findings

• The impact of ADHD on people’s lives can be profound. Our findings on those diagnosed reveal significant negative effects on people’s ability to concentrate at work or when studying (73%), mental wellbeing (74%), household management (73%), and relationships (59%). There are also impacts on those undiagnosed.
• An ADHD diagnosis can change people’s lives, giving them a better understanding of themselves (91%), giving them new strategies to manage their ADHD traits (50%), helping them to concentrate at work or while studying (48%) and finding it easier to maintain relationships (50%).
• However, people are experiencing long waits, pushing them to pay for private assessments. This, in turn, creates a two-tier system based on the ability to pay for care. Over half (56%) of those waiting for an assessment who responded to our poll had been doing so for over a year.
• There are hidden waits for ADHD referrals. Along with long waits for assessment, people shared stories of referral delays and a reluctance to seek support due to long waits.
• People want support while waiting for an ADHD assessment but most aren’t getting any. Half (50%) of people in our poll waiting for an ADHD assessment want support to manage their mental wellbeing, while three in five (60%) want a single point of contact. However, almost nine in ten (87%) people with an ADHD diagnosis said they received either no information or poor information whilst waiting for their assessment.
• People with ADHD or suspected ADHD can be reluctant to speak to their employer about support. Less than one in three (31%) of our respondents who were in work had done so. Reasons for not telling their employer included worrying about possible implications for their job and not thinking that changes would make a difference. However over half of people (55%) who had told their employer were offered at least one reasonable adjustment to support them.
• Respondents who considered that they had both ADHD and autism reported a disjointed and drawn out process and the weighty impact of both conditions on their lives.
• A disadvantage of assessments mainly being done remotely by Right to Choose services is that there is no ability for these services to signpost people to local support if needed. Many people were therefore unaware of local support options. They may have been able to develop coping and stabilising strategies sooner had they had access to this information.

Key Recommendations 

The Healthwatch England report included the following recommendations. We have included some local recommendations after these.

Healthwatch England’s national recommendations

There is a clear need for quicker access to NHS support for ADHD, as well as help from other sectors including employment. However, there are also challenges facing NHS teams, which are facing rising demand for a condition that is becoming more understood by the public.

To improve access, provide more consistent support to people waiting, and build capacity for specialist hospital teams to deliver more complex care, we have called on NHS decision-makers to:

1. Move ADHD assessments to the community. This includes providing NHS teams with the training and resources they need to deliver care closer to people’s homes. This shift will require collaboration between NHS, social care, education, employment and criminal justice stakeholders.
2. Review National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) ADHD guidance to reflect this shift to more care delivered by general psychiatry and GP teams, as well as explore future prescribing of first-line medication from non-hospital settings.
3. Provide better support to people waiting for ADHD assessments, including keeping people updated with clear and accessible communication from the NHS.
4. Collect and publish official data on ADHD assessment waiting times, including demographic data, to understand and address health inequalities.
5. Improve employers’ support for those with ADHD by raising awareness and proactive offers of reasonable adjustments and expanding support provided through the Access to Work scheme.

Healthwatch Liverpool’s local recommendations

1. Explore a coordinated pathway. Consider a joined-up pathway for those needing both ADHD and autism assessments. This might include referrers and assessors being familiar with:
   1. Awareness of how the conditions may present when they co-exist.
   2. Suggesting screening for both if appropriate.
   3. Potential for combined or cordinated assessments in future.
   4. Advice, information and support provision which takes account of the complexity of living with both conditions.
2. Local information about support. Consideration be given to how people referred for an assessment can be more reliably signposted to sources of information and support while they wait.  
   
   To support this Healthwatch Liverpool has developed an information page which referrers can point patients to. https://www.healthwatchliverpool.co.uk/advice-and-information/2025-09-12/what-can-i-do-while-waiting-adult-adhd-assessment
3. Intersectionality: different barriers and experiences
   
   Services should be:
   1. aware of the way ADHD can present with different groups and the barriers each has in receiving timely identification and appropriate support
   2. willing to tailor their approach accordingly. 
          - The presentation among women and the interaction with female hormones
          - The strong correlation between neurodivergence and diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.
          - The potential for additional levels of stigma among people in minoritised communities