Maybe if the government funded the NHS properly there wouldn’t be a 3+ year long wait for an assessment for a debilitating condition and people wouldn’t have to go private. What is the point in this article, what are they trying to demonise now?
Edit: words
This doesn’t surprise me. I reached out to a private clinic that offered autism assessments after recognising some of my own traits in an autism documentary.
I was sent a survey about my early childhood traits and behaviours for myself and/or a parent to fill in. Once this was submitted I would be invited for a video call assessment. The who process would cost >£1000.
The clinic offered a free 10 min call with the assessor to answer any questions and straight off the bat she was talking to me as if it was a foregone conclusion that I had autism. This was the first time she had spoken to me and had not seen my survey answers.
She asked me what had prompted me to seek a diagnosis and I said I had always struggled to make friends and mentioned that I never got invited to birthday parties as a kid. She jumped on straight away “but deep down you know you didn’t want to go to those parties because they would have been too noisy” and I was like, “no I would have loved to have gone and been included”, but she wouldn’t drop it. Continued on forcing autistic traits on me that I didn’t have.
I was put right off and didn’t submit the survey or continue with the process. After looking at the survey questions I am pretty sure I wouldn’t meet the diagnosis criteria but she had basically already decided that she would shoe-horn my responses to fit.
Anyway I’m pretty sure I just have severe social anxiety and OCD. Fun 🙃
I’m sure, given the new attention on conditions such as ADHD from social media, which in turn has attracted the attention of the projecting ‘Silly sensitive snowflake’ right wing types, that this will be an extremely neutral and reasonable piece.
It’s not like they’ve already had to change the title due to it being misleading and causing controversy…
Went through this experience recently. I had a diagnosis a few years old via NHS that i never followed through with.
NHS were quoting 6 months to be seen. I bit the bullet and forked out. Had my prescription within a week, and after 3 months I got transferred back to GP, and have to pay around £200 every six months to the private clinic get the boxes reticked.
My private consultant pretty much gave me whatever I asked for, I was trying very hard to convince him I was honest and genuine until I realized he didn’t really care about that, now we dont speak i just call the office they fill the form.
Definitely a stitch up because these people aren’t “doing” much, just listening to you for 5 mins and checking your blood pressure. Why can’t the NHS afford that?
Very concerned about this. I’m fairly certain I have ADHD and that it’s been having a negative impact on my life for years. Not sure what to do now.
Was diagnosed at 30, privately this year. My GP couldn’t care less and it’s common locally to be advised on considering private care due to the wait.
Pricey, efficient and hoping to do shared care soon. Around £1500 for the whole process but it’s improved my quality of life dramatically.
Boy am I glad I got an NHS assessment quickly and got pretty much the exact same quality of assessment than was described for the private ones.
It’s almost like these people are professionals trained to spot this kind of thing or something.
Though I do agree there isn’t enough discussion on the possible side effects of the medication. I was just prescribed my meds and had to figure it out on my own and even though I found that I was supposed to be getting therapy alongside treatment, the best they could manage was pointing me to charity phonelines.
Thankfully, I’ve been on these meds for about a year now and it’s pretty clear I was right to seek diagnosis.
This condition is ‘New’ and the Tories have gutted public services so I’m not surprised by any of this. I can understand the concern but it’s a bit shocking that the BBC hasn’t even deigned to interview anyone negatively affected by an erroneous diagnosis or find any meaningful harm done by the clinics. The best they could do is find someone who made a complaint who’s supposedly in legal trouble. In fact, it sounds as though she’s angry about NOT getting diagnosed to me.
“There is no doubt that many people who go to private clinics will have ADHD, but experts say patients might not get the right treatment if the assessment was unreliable” add to this dishonest patients dramatically increase likelihood of false positives.
What’s not included in the article is details of the questions asked or as importantly answers given. It is mentioned that symptoms should be impacting a life for a diagnosis to be made, and in most cases a patient dropping a grand on an assessment will be impacted – that’s not crummy money to most people – yet obviously if an undercover reporter is falsely presenting that’s not true and the reporter has intentionally put themself into harms way.
The undercover journalist obviously wasn’t honest to doctors. ADHD patients are asked about careers for example – answer of “I’m an undercover reporter for Panorama” was unlikely to be forthcoming. The extent to which they chose to be dishonest to different doctors isn’t revealed. Now if you present false information to a doctor you are significantly more likely to get a false answer back. This is true for any condition that is assessed qualitatively.
Basically if you tells fibs to a psychologist you can generate false positives. This isn’t surprising. Core part of the evaluation for ADHD is not just the written answers you give but the written answers a family member/partner gives. A manipulated submission is significantly more likely to generate false positives than an honestly filled out one.
“We lied to obtain medical care and obtained medical care” is less of a shocking narrative but never let nuance interrupt a good rage.
After 4 years on a waiting list I was finally seen by adhd360. I had 3 one hour assessments, multiple questionnaires that involved my parents, they even looked at my old school reports (now that was an eye opener for me after nearly 30 years, man I was a dick)
I thought they were pretty professional. Asked about previous mental heath, drug usage etc. I’m a bit broken in a few places and really didn’t want to go the medication route BUT, after a few weeks decided to try it, it’s made a big difference to my life, no idea how I got through the last 40 years so well to be honest.
But
The lack of follow up care is taking its toal and I believe speaking to a phycologist every couple of months would be very beneficial and really should be offered. These meds are not to be messed with and really do depend on your current phycologyal state and sleep, stress is the mind killer and the sleep breaker. A few nights of little or bad sleep can change my mood very quickly into places I havnt been for a long time.
Oh, and something that isn’t made very clear. Even if you get passed back to the NHS, your doctor does not have authority to changes meds or even talk to you about your Adhd, you need to go back to the private clinic.
Good luck all those of this journey.
Here’s food for thought.
In Scotland I definitely can’t get medical cannabis from the NHS, under any circumstances.
But
If I pay a £150 fee to speak to a private doctor, I can have medicinal cannabis for a small fee each month.
I would imagine this is linked to members of parliament to cash in on. Someone’s making a lot of money from it, and it’s not the NHS. Why is that?
Both ADHD meds and (legal) weed exist in this weird grey area where they’re extremely easy to get on private prescription but seemingly very difficult or impossible on the NHS.
I note with interest that the NHS clinician who said he doesn’t have ADHD was the only one to know he was a Panorama journalist investigating diagnostic practices at private clinics, and in an associated article it notes that he’s long had concerns about private clinics and their operation. I’m curious as to whether the journalist would have got the same result if he’d gone undercover in the NHS.
Of course, to go undercover in the NHS he’d have had to have got himself on the waiting list up to five years ago. Because despite the NHS constitution guaranteeing patients the right to be seen within 18 weeks (~4.5 months) of referral for non-urgent care, most people I’ve heard from have been told they can expect to wait more like 2-5 years for their first NHS appointment.
I’m on a waiting list with a private clinic myself, via the NHS right to choose. I would have preferred to be seen by an NHS psychiatrist, but my local NHS adult ADHD service was going to take 3 years to see me, while this clinic promised six months. It’s not one of the ones investigated here, so I really hope the quality of care is good.
There needs to be a greater appreciation of the fact that undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can ruin people’s lives. People drop out of education, lose jobs, struggle with interpersonal relationships, and in some cases end up in trouble with the law. Waiting years for help can be really very damaging.
I’m disappointed that Panorama have emphasised this salacious “people who don’t have ADHD are being falsely diagnosed and prescribed controlled drugs!” angle, rather than focusing on the quality of patient care, the safety of the prescribing process, and the fact that these clinics are even necessary to begin with.
Meanwhile the NHS refuse to see you or dismiss and minimise everything you tell them during your assessment so they can avoid treating you.
It’s almost like patients with psychiatric complaints understand what’s going on in their own mind better than the half arsed clinician listening to them with one eye always on reasons to not treat you.
> But a more detailed, in-person NHS assessment showed he didn’t have the condition.
and could this have anything to do with the fact that doctors hate diagnosing adhd, particularly in women? “if you had adhd you’d be bouncing off the walls”?
if you know, you know. and let me tell you, if you dont, you really fucking dont
3 vs 1 neg and an NHS negative at that.. I don’t really trust the NHS anymore tbh. They’re too understaffed and underfunded. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they don’t want to diagnose people with life long medication requiring disorders or illnesses because it will drain more money on the already empty accounts.
I am jaded as fuck though as I’ve been waiting over a year to be assessed for ADHD despite it’s debilitating effect on my life on the daily and since it was suggested I may have ADHD yet not being checked on it just made my mental health dive down further because clearly no one gives a shit about it, me or how it affects people because it just is not a priority for the NHS. I am one of numerous thousands in the same boat sailing a terrible invisible storm and just white knuckling it.
The Americanisation of our healthcare. Forced to go private, or going to one of these providers paid by the NHS, only for them to prescribe the thing that gives them recurring revenue regardless of what the patient actually needs.
As someone diagnosed at 29 through one of these private services through the NHS right to choose, I hate this take going around.
A large amount of people going to these services get diagnosed, because there’s a high barrier of entry. Who tf is spending a year minimum jumping through hoops for a condition they aren’t struggling with?
My big question though, which I wonder when people also fearmonger about raising awareness of ADHD on social media, is what’s the actual problem? If people “don’t actually” have ADHD, but they have something very similar to ADHD which responds to the same treatment of ADHD, then how is it bad for them to get that support now? Conversely, you also hear “everyone has those struggles” ok, so what’s the problems to moving to a world which is easier to navigate with those problems, wouldn’t that make it better for everyone then?
This infuriates me.
In the UK, we have a significant problem with _under_ diagnosis of ADHD. A very small proportion of the people _with_ ADHD have been diagnosed, and fewer still are actually being treated.
NHS mental health care services are systematically underfunded, and suffering badly for anyone who’s not literally showing up to A&E with slit wrists.
There’s genuinely a scandal here, but it’s nothing to do with defrauding psychiatrists, and everything to do with the NHS having year+ lead times for things that take an hour or two to assess.
ADHD is horribly misunderstood. It’s not actually about Attention Deficit or Hyperactivity at all. It’s about executive function and dopamine deficiency.
So lots of people don’t even realise they have it. I didn’t until 43, when I was extremely close to suicide.
If you have trouble sustaining focus, and with motivation, to the point where it’s “life impacting” you might have ADHD. 3-5% of the population have it, so it’s not as rare as you might imagine. That’s literally one child in every class.
“Bright but Lazy” might as well be a diagnostic criteria for it.
Oh yes please, make access to ADHD even harder than it is today. What a wonderful idea.
I wonder why people go to private clinics when there’s public health care,hmmm. Why don’t they also do an undercover investigation on it.
So I want you all to know: Defrauding a psychiatrists isn’t the ‘gotcha’ that it’s portrayed to be.
Any of you who have been diagnosed – and weren’t defrauding the psychiatrist – have no reason to doubt your diag.
They asked questions, you met the criteria. You presumably respond to the medication.
End of story.
Training as a Psychiatrist is a long and extensive process. They’re registered with the GMC, and ‘malpractice’ is an ugly term that every doctor treads carefully around.
There’s simply no shortage of people ‘queuing’ to get diagnosed at the moment – the NHS lead times are disgusting – and your assessor gets paid whether it’s a ‘yep’ or a ‘nope’.
So there’s simply no reason to give you a fake diag.
By the time _most_ people get as far as NHS doctor, or paying for private assessment, they’ve already:
– Self assessed, and decided it’s ‘worth the wait’ (or cost).
– Been referred, by someone who’s also looked at the criteria, and said ‘yes, seems to fit’ and referred you to a specialist. They may not be a full psychiatrist, but they’re still typically someone looking to act in the best interests of healthcare.
– A psychiatrist has done the same, using EXTENSIVE experience of psychiatric medicine, and with HUGE professional consequences for malpractice.
That’s truly about as ‘robust’ as you get.
Sometimes the diagnosis is quick – because there’s some people who are so OBVIOUS that they have ADHD, you don’t need to waste too much time asking them ‘well duh’ sorts of questions. Others take longer, because you might need to unpick anxiety, depression, ASD _and/or_ other comorbid conditions.
Length of assessment isn’t any sort of measure of quality.
So anyone who’s getting questioned about their diag being fake: Don’t feel like they’ve got _any_ sort of point. Even if you were diagnosed by the clinics here. Just because someone defrauded a psychiatrist, doesn’t mean they’re systematically “making mistakes” and even if they were, that _still_ doesn’t stop you having ADHD in the first place, as the reason you were seeking diagnosis!
Defrauding a psychiatrist probably isn’t too hard if you know what you’re doing. But why would you bother? It’s honestly cheaper and faster to get ADHD medication in other illegal ways if you know what you’re doing. (No, I’m not going to tell you. But trust me, I _have_ looked, and it’s not nearly as hard as you might assume – buying illegally might even be cheaper for some of the medication options!).
Incredibly dishonest to compare undercover private clinic appointments with meeting a senior consultant psychiatrist who knows about the investigation
Hello ADHD 360 patient here!
I am also on stimulants and sleeping medication and I had to refer through my GP to get them.
What the article fails to mention is the follow up monthly phone calls to constantly check the medication isn’t adversely affecting my mental or physical health. Before i can get any more medication I have to submit blood pressure results as well as well as my current body weight.
Rest assured they are definitely not handing them out like sweets! This article doesn’t mention these double check at all, so I’m highly sceptical that they’ve done proper research and interviewed former ADHD 360 patients like myself
No one dropping £500-£1000 to access a private ADHD assessment is doing it for shits and giggles. I’m not surprised that the rate of diagnosis is so high in private clinics as it’s a self selecting group of people that go to the lengths of seeking them out.
I was diagnosed through one of the clinics mentioned in the article. The service isn’t perfect but since I have titrated to a stable dose my life has absolutely gotten better, my anxiety is almost non existent anymore and my confidence and mental health in general is vastly improved.
The dosing has been properly monitored, so have my vitals throughout.
ADHD is difficult to properly diagnose accurately 100% of the time. Sometimes just starting people on a drug and seeing how it works when there is enough evidence to support doing so is better than never prescribing at all.
I haven’t felt in a lurch where they just have chucked me some drugs and said alright on your way nor do I feel they have been in any way reckless about it.
I’d take that over waiting 3 years on NHS. I know someone who did go through the NHS and trying to get follow ups and drug changes has been difficult for them. I never have had to deal with that.
My partner is a French national, thought she had ADHD and got it assessed there while she was visiting her parents. Full day assessment by an ADHD specialist, who focused on female adult ADHD, who was also a doctor registered in the UK, undertaking various tests and exercises for just a few hundred Euros. She was diagnosed shortly after, and within a couple weeks had all the necessary sessions with psychiatrists and the hospital before getting her Ritalin prescription.
France would only give her a month’s prescription at a time, so when she came back to the UK she arranged a GP appointment and brought along her diagnosis, prescription and psychiatric assessment documentation (all in English) to get the prescription sorted here. Was told that she would need to be re-diagnosed in the UK (even though the French doctor was registered in the UK) and that the waiting list was over 3 years, so we should go private.
We contacted a local private ADHD centre who quoted us >£3k for a diagnosis and prescription. They said they could only ignore the existing diagnosis (which was the result of an intensive assessment) that their process was to get us to complete some forms and surveys followed by some psychiatric sessions. We didn’t progress with that.
Now I’ve got a promotion at work which came with BUPA (now AXA) cover. Both providers rejected her claim for diagnosis as they both specifically exclude ADHD. We are now going through the process of getting her a generic psychiatric assessment for her mental health issues (all as a result of the ADHD) and hoping that a diagnosis will fall out of this. I was told by a therapist that this is the only way to get a diagnosis on private insurance. This is all just for diagnosis and a prescription, not even ongoing treatment/ support- that’s just simply off the table.
We’re in touch with the psychiatrist’s office and are just waiting on the GP sending her docs over before arranging an appointment. But we’ve been foiled at every turn in trying to sort this so am not expecting anything. All the while my partner is powerless to help herself and can’t hold a job or keep on top of daily life.
It’s all fucking disgraceful.
This is horribly bad timing for me. I’ve just been diagnosed by a private clinic and am still working through coming to terms with it. It has been really difficult to put 2 and 2 together and understand just how much its impacted my life in such a negative way, although I was starting to come to terms with it and teach myself that it’s not some completely awful thing, and that It doesn’t have to stop me from doing what I want. However, now this has come out and, whilst I’m not disagreeing with it, my dad now thinks the clinic misdiagnosed me for money and now I’m back to the beginning- doubting myself, thinking i’m just lazy, looking for an excuse, need to just work harder, etc…
and of course there’s a panorama thing about it tonight that he will be watching:(
TL;DR – This is discrimination not journalism ignoring the real truth here and a personal report on my experiences with ADHD and the NHS.
The real headline –
ADHD: BBC “investigation” exposed for obvious bias and discrimination to ADHD patients with a life-long and chronic disability by unsubtly and wrongly labelling patients as fakes, over-prescribed and drug addicts. Ignores alternative reasons for the necessity of these morally dubious but legal practices.
I ask, where’s the control patient? Why didn’t the reporter present with his actual normal non-ADHD symptoms instead of acting as if he had the condition and conning the doctor as if he had ADHD?
Are they aware mental health conditions are diagnosed by consult and presentation? What is the doctor supposed to say? You’re lying? He cheated the doctor on purpose.
The reporter led the doctor to make a false diagnosis. That is fraud and this is fake journalism and literal discrimination of the disabled by the BBC and will only create stigma in the name of “investigative” journalism.
Are there bad operators in every sphere of medicine? Yes. Did they even try to find good clinics like the one I was forced to go to? No.
This BBC “Investigation” fails to even mention the 32 years out of the last 50 of Conservative government. A government who have been responsible for underfunding and managing the NHS and mental health treatment so badly that taxpayers are forced to use shady but 100% legal private clinics to get ANY kind of help in a reasonable time frame.
Is this the way forward? No. But is the government doing anything to help patients anymore? No. Are the NHS and patients out of options? Yes.
My experiences –
“I do not blame the NHS in any way. They have been mismanaged and underfunded with intent for well over the last decade. The PM and his wife/family literally have a vested financial interest in privatisation of the NHS. It is criminal levels of greed and power that can’t go be allowed to continue”.
“I was misdiagnosed well over a decade ago after a couple of short NHS psych sessions with major depressive disorder and type 2 bipolar. I was prescribed a selection of the wrong meds for nearly the last two decades. No therapy. No counselling. Just drugs and near-silence until I almost died.
I saw NHS mental health services barely less than once a year after this diagnosis and short consultation. This is not for a lack of trying. It’s not shade on them but GP’s get bored of you pretty quickly when theres little they can do
It is also not their fault. There is no money or time for therapy or regular appointments in general. I have had therapy over the years privately but without knowing my proper diagnosis it all fell a bit short.
This all came to a head when I tried to take my own life just over 5 years ago and was referred to an emergency mental health service. My meds were not changed even after I said they weren’t working. They said I was just depressed and it was just a bad episode.
There was one amazing outcome though because I was prescribed a CBT course of therapy through i-talk. I was incredibly grateful for this and completed this fantastic therapy course and whilst it helped me get over the worst of my depression and suicidal ideation the counsellor even said at the end there was something going on they couldn’t put their finger on.
Due to actively working on my mental health I began to question my diagnosis and whether it was accurate and it was during this time that I came across the ADHD condition
This was not through the NHS but because I happened to watch (HOWTOADHD) Jessica MCcabe giving a talk on TED on the subject. It was like shining a light on everything that was wrong with my mental health.
From that point it took over two years to even get a referral to an out of county ADHD service. I read plenty on Reddit and the internet about waiting times and having to go private and this was nearly 5 years ago now. I started to save and I’m glad I did.
So 2 more years of the wrong drugs and treatment lost and on receiving the referral the NHS clinic were saying that 18 months waiting time for assessment was the average. I would be looking at pretty much 4 years total to see someone.
The nurse even said sorry as we’d spoken a couple of times by this point. They suggested a highly reputable and recommended private doctor to check out. They did not suggest an instant appointment with a VOD “Doctor”.
I was forced to wait or to go to a private clinic to pay for assessment. I went private at great cost. This process cost £2-3000 (not including therapy). If you’re wondering why it was so much I had to have monthly appointments and a screening over a minimum of two sessions.
This was done as if it were on the NHS with school reports and questionnaires from multiple people who knew me then and now. I was properly diagnosed, cared for and titrated.
Part of the cost was the prescriptions are incredibly expensive and it took months for my GP to agree a shared care agreement because they are controlled drugs.
The doctor I saw is an expert on ADHD in the NHS and helps the NHS as much as they can but with what doctors get paid do you blame them for doing private work?
I don’t regret going private but it came at great financial cost and I often wonder if the NHS psychs had had a little more funding and time whether my life outcome would have been different.
Its a double edged sword because I’m lucky to be here and I do have the NHS to thank for that but I often wonder if things could have been different. I just wish it were different for everyone. I’m lucky to be alive. Many are not. Not everyone gets a second chance like I did or can save money like I had to.
This is the governments fault not the NHS’s. I’ve proudly paid tax all my life and I wish the great people that make up the NHS were supported and funded to provide the world class care that they already do but made easier with genuine support”.
“Now I’m properly treated my life has been unrecognisable and all sorts of options have become possible because I can actually function as a “normal” adult. I wish I’d known what I know now decades ago but at least now I get the chance to make something of my life. Anyone with mental health problems and disabilities should get that chance.”
FML. Ten years of being treated for anxiety and depression through the NHS, finally get to an NHS psychiatrist, they suggest ADHD, pandemic happens, in the queue for an ADHD assessment for the next four years, get desperate, pay for a private assessment (none of these three mind you), pay for the meds, then a month ago the NHS say they’re giving up on the queue I’m in and moving us to ADHD360, I get assessed by them, woohoo meds are free now, finally I’m sorted.
And now this.
Given that three private providers assessed him based on supply of history and following diagnostic criteria, and who were unaware of his intent, assessed him as having adhd… and the nhs psychiatrist (who may also do private work) who was aware that he was a journalist looking at this, may have been biased in their review.
He would need to have gone to three nhs providers really, but it’s still biased.
This is already making people doubt their own health
This guy went into the NHS clinic telling them that he was doing an investigation into too easy adhd diagnoses at private hospitals and got them to do an assessment. Then he went private and didn’t tell them? This is poor investigative journalism but the hidden point is that he would never have got the NHS interview if he hadn’t told them it was for a report beforehand
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I understand that this is an emotive issue – my son has ADHD and the journey to get diagnosis and treatment was a struggle. CAMHS has been underfunded for years and is effectively broken.
It’s worth watching the documentary with an open mind. The companies that were investigated did not follow clinical best practice and that should be a cause for concern.
I’m one of those people who filled out and submitted ADHD assessment via my GP last year with absolutely no idea when I’ll hear back or even if I will be approved for an assessment via the NHS. I’m considering private as a truly last resort because it’s the only alternative should the NHS decide my symptoms do not want a diagnosis with them.
I was pre warned by my GP that it could be months even years of waiting until I hear back and advised quite candidly that if I was in the financial position to seek private treatment I should, despite the fact it would be difficult for me to do so.
It’s so unbelievably frustrating to witness such a shoddy lack of funding in the NHS for such a condition. I’m a adult in her 30’s who just wants treatment, not game the fucking system.
I think this investigation by the BBC was well intended, but it’s done more damage than good. Question is what happens as a result of this investigation- more funding for the NHS for ADHD or simply nothing?
Okay so let’s check the timeline
– A couple of years ago we have a [report](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8017218/) that suggests people in the UK with ADHD are seriously being failed, not just with waiting lists – but because of the bias and stigma that still surrounds the condition (note that this report was conducted by experts in the field, not journalists)
– We have follow up [reports](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-022-04290-7) that make suggestions on how to address the issue, whilst also confirming that there’s a problem
– Earlier this year we have a cross-party [debate](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-02-06/debates/183A24F1-C943-4D2E-8238-4B03AF11D715/AutismAndADHDAssessments) that again concludes the treatment people with ADHD (and ASD) face on the NHS is dire, and something needs to be changed
– aaand now we’re getting BBC hit pieces against ADHD, little more than shoddy journalism that will only serve to increase the bias and stigma ADHDers face
If you go to an NHS psychiatrist, say that you’re a journalist investigating potentially dodgy private practices, chances are that’s going to bias him a little against diagnosing you (not to mention that the level of his assessment was well above the level most can expect to experience on the NHS, if they can stomach the 3-5yr waiting lists – you’re more likely to face dismissive condescension than 3hr chats with a psychiatrist)
then he goes to three private practices, all of whom diagnose him – ADHD is not a discrete condition, a binary yes or no. It does have some element of subjectivity and clearly three independent practitioners decided he met the criteria, against one (biased) practitioner who decided he didn’t
I will concede that the shared clip on the BBC page was poor, but not at all indicative of the private diagnosis I received (with ADHD360, one of the providers listed), and we don’t know how much was selective editing
we also have no idea how he answered the forms, how he explained the level of impairment he faced or how he addressed issues around childhood symptoms… either he lied (explicitly or through omission) or there is some genuine need for help there. (Perhaps the medication might even have helped him!)
end of the day, ADHD is [under-diagnosed](https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2752/rr-5) in the UK, it’s a fairly common condition with a history going back [hundreds of years](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000907/) (so not just a modern phenomenon), and we know that the impact of untreated ADHD is considerable, both to the individual and to wider society (health costs, incarceration etc), I think it’s very poor form for the BBC to put out such sub-standard journalism at a time when mental health treatment in the UK is in crisis
if anyone wants help or advice on the condition, please join us at r/ADHDUK (we also have an extensive [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHDUK/wiki/faq/) that will hopefully answer some of the more common questions and signposts some useful resources)
This “investigation” is so incredibly biased it’s a joke. This is not journalism it’s sensationalist garbage.
A message to the journalist: This is some shoddy work. You could have helped tighten up the regulations, but instead you’ve helped demonise something in a sensationalist, shallow, poorly researched and completely biased report, about an issue that is under diagnosed and misunderstood. BRAVO.
The truth is that there is a problem with this and it does need closely monitoring and addressing, but the way this information is being presented it so one-sided and designed to create a public reaction that I think it could negatively impact young people who actually do need to get help but their parents read/watch garbage like this.
There is not an alternative, the NHS wait times are tragic. I’d be dead long before I’d get an appointment. I’m not being hyperbolic, there are a stack of negative impacts and mental health problems that come with not knowing you have ADHD.
Getting my diagnosis was like someone finally handed me the correct instruction manual to my operating system. Before then I was looking at the the non-neurodivergent manual and wondering why my menu screen didn’t have the same buttons, or why I couldn’t change the speed or volume!
This article talks about mental health only when it confirms their bias. They show a shallow understanding of ADHD and the long term coping mechanisms, compulsions and anxiety people get from “never quite fitting in” or “always being late”. My mental health has never been this good.
My online assessment contained a series of questionnaires with myself and my husband. Sure it was only an hour for the first session, but in that hour we talked childhood trauma, it was intense in a good way and my doctor gave me a lot of really excellent reading advice (The Body Keeps A Score). I then had a full titration period with a nurse where we monitored my heart rate, weight, mood and blood pressure as we figured out the meds over a series of days, maybe weeks I can’t remember. I have yearly catch ups with my doctor. Hour long sessions to make sure I’m on the right meds, and that I still need to be on them. I look forward to those chats because I get to tell her all the ways she’s improved my life and thank her!
(This was psychiatry-uk)
They have no incentive to give me a false diagnosis. Both the doctor and nurse encouraged me to get the sign off from my doctor to get them via the NHS, which was actually easy to do.
Many people don’t even get meds after getting the diagnosis. This article is frustrating because it just assumes that all people are stupid and incapable of making adult decisions about their own health. Many people I know found out they had ADHD and we’re like “cool, I’m glad I know. I’ll just make these few life changes and let work know”.
On a personal anecdotal note: My life has been changed on Lisdexamfetamine. I sleep better, eat better, no longer drink, am focused at work, am present in meetings and I no longer need to over stimulate. There may be a better term for this but by “not overstimulate” I mean I can watch TV. Just watch TV. I don’t have to be playing on my laptop, texting and chain-snacking to watch TV. Boredom used to feel like agony to me, now I can do things that were impossible like wait patiently in a queue, cardio at the gym, listen to a boring monologue without wanting to scream at the speaker (though I do still struggle with interrupting and jumping ahead).
Most importantly, I want to get up in the morning. I want to be a part of the world. I don’t dwell on the stupid thing I said in a meeting 8 years ago, I don’t get anxiety over a delayed train, I don’t blame myself or try to change who I am because some people find me annoying. I just move on and find my own tribe of understanding weirdos.
So though I do think way too many people jumped onto the ADHD bandwagon, some people doing it to avoid addressing other problems in their life and needing a quick solution that they can cling to in order to avoid doing the harder work and tell themselves “it’s just how I am are wired”, or those people that like to make a new “in” thing part of their personality (you know, the people who are not actually bi, or not actually vegan or not actually gluten intolerant) that seem to jump from one thing to another and make it 100% of their personality. They are easy to spot, they are the people on Instagram that suddenly flood your feed with ADHD memes.
But the BBC should be ashamed at how obviously biased and shallow this investigation looks. What’s to say the NHS doctor is right? I’ve had some terrible experiences with IRL doctors. I was once given bowel tables for period pain. Then the next doctor called that previous doctor an idiot.
In this article the guy says they randomly talked about football players for a bit. I was like “dude, did you create that tangent?” Because the doctor was likely thinking that this was more evidence that you have ADHD! This is the kind of stuff they are looking for dummy.
3 online doctors say you have it. 1 irl doctors says you don’t. But this is hardly a fair blind study is it. You’ve hugely tampered with the results by not giving the 3 doctors the same information as the 1.
The IRL one knew you wanted to prove that you didn’t have ADHD. YOU wanted to prove that you didn’t have it. There is no way that when you talked to him this didn’t affect how you behaved. That’s the story you are trying to write. You’ve sunk time and money into it. You’ve gotten excited at the prospect of a big panorama take down and now everything you do is tainted by your desire to prove your bias.
Wow. I’ve just watched this episode and cannot believe how fearmoungering and manipulative it was.
I myself was for years misdiagnosed by nhs GPs with general anxiety to only realise in my late 20s that all my symptoms and experiences could be actually linked to ADHD. I then waited for over 2 years on the nhs for an assessment before reaching burnout again deciding to go private in desperation for help and stuggling to keep up with my job. I can’t believe they would publish something so damaging when the NHS is doing absolutely nothing to help the situation.
Like oh you think you have adhd, well you either gp private and get a make believe diagnosis or we will just refuse to treat you for years… what?
This has made me so angry that I’m actually writing to the BBC, never thought I’d be this person tbh.
Man lies about untestable mental condition. Gets people to corroborate lies. Doctor assesses based on lies and provide diagnosis.
This isn’t journalism. That would be investigating why the NHS waiting times are so long people are forced to the private clinics to receive the help they desperately need.
The NHS experience of ADHD is a joke.
For me, the possibility of having ADHD first occurred last year as a result of my partner seeing reels on Instagram and saying “hey, this is a lot like you”. After a bit of reading into the subject using information provided by the NHS, I arranged an appointment with the GP to discuss this and find out what their thoughts were and what my options might be. The GP was completely dismissive without actually hearing why I thought I had it, and said that even if I did I wouldn’t be able to get any sort of help for it as the local (Cheshire) ADHD services had a multi-year waiting list and they only treated the most severe cases.
Well lo and behold, 7 months later and I have been diagnosed with combined type ADHD by a local private clinic. After months of introspection and analysing my life with close family I’ve realised that the signs were always there. Viewing my life through the lens of ADHD makes everything make sense, and I have been consuming as much knowledge as possible through watching lectures on YouTube and reading source material. I won’t go into the more personal details, but after a decade of mental health struggles my life is finally starting to make sense and improve.
For someone to say flipently that watching Tiktok and diagnosing yourself isn’t valid makes my blood boil. Sure watching a few tiktoks isn’t enough for a diagnosis, but I’ve spoken to people who dismiss ADHD as a possibility without knowing anything about me.
All private clinics offering ADHD services should be assessed critically to the same standard we would expect from the NHS, but unfortunately this capability is limited for the same reason as why the NHS can’t even come close to meeting the demand for assessment: Underfunding.
I think we can agree that it would be unacceptable for someone with a broken leg to wait for a minimum of 2 years to get help, so why should someone who has an undiagnosed disability be left to struggle for that long while their life crumbles around them? If the statistics on ADHD is to be believed, it is a massive public health issue that desperately needs to be addressed. We either need more funding for the NHS to meet demand, or a properly funded regulatory body to ensure standards of care are being met by the private alternatives.
This undercover investigation is the sort of thing that should be done privately by an official regulator. Doing a hit piece like this is so harmful for the public perception of ADHD and does nothing but rile up ignorant bigots to belittle a thoroughly researched disability.
What an utterly fucking bullshit methodology. The NHS opinion was obtained under very different circumstances…with the doctor being aware this was all a test.
Meanwhile the private providers were tested unknowingly, and perhaps took as a given that if you have sought them out you certainly consider these symptoms to be impacting your day to day life.
This was a rigged comparison and utterly shit journalism rolled into one.
Of course, they could not do a true like for like comparison because without being upfront about what they were doing they’d have to actually wait to see an NHS psychiatrist for years which is too long for a cheap pitch to the editor.
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Maybe if the government funded the NHS properly there wouldn’t be a 3+ year long wait for an assessment for a debilitating condition and people wouldn’t have to go private. What is the point in this article, what are they trying to demonise now?
Edit: words
This doesn’t surprise me. I reached out to a private clinic that offered autism assessments after recognising some of my own traits in an autism documentary.
I was sent a survey about my early childhood traits and behaviours for myself and/or a parent to fill in. Once this was submitted I would be invited for a video call assessment. The who process would cost >£1000.
The clinic offered a free 10 min call with the assessor to answer any questions and straight off the bat she was talking to me as if it was a foregone conclusion that I had autism. This was the first time she had spoken to me and had not seen my survey answers.
She asked me what had prompted me to seek a diagnosis and I said I had always struggled to make friends and mentioned that I never got invited to birthday parties as a kid. She jumped on straight away “but deep down you know you didn’t want to go to those parties because they would have been too noisy” and I was like, “no I would have loved to have gone and been included”, but she wouldn’t drop it. Continued on forcing autistic traits on me that I didn’t have.
I was put right off and didn’t submit the survey or continue with the process. After looking at the survey questions I am pretty sure I wouldn’t meet the diagnosis criteria but she had basically already decided that she would shoe-horn my responses to fit.
Anyway I’m pretty sure I just have severe social anxiety and OCD. Fun 🙃
How brave of the BBC to start banging this drum again after [their own trust](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/feb/24/panorama-bbc-trust-ruling) condemned their last attempt for being innacurate.
I’m sure, given the new attention on conditions such as ADHD from social media, which in turn has attracted the attention of the projecting ‘Silly sensitive snowflake’ right wing types, that this will be an extremely neutral and reasonable piece.
It’s not like they’ve already had to change the title due to it being misleading and causing controversy…
Went through this experience recently. I had a diagnosis a few years old via NHS that i never followed through with.
NHS were quoting 6 months to be seen. I bit the bullet and forked out. Had my prescription within a week, and after 3 months I got transferred back to GP, and have to pay around £200 every six months to the private clinic get the boxes reticked.
My private consultant pretty much gave me whatever I asked for, I was trying very hard to convince him I was honest and genuine until I realized he didn’t really care about that, now we dont speak i just call the office they fill the form.
Definitely a stitch up because these people aren’t “doing” much, just listening to you for 5 mins and checking your blood pressure. Why can’t the NHS afford that?
Very concerned about this. I’m fairly certain I have ADHD and that it’s been having a negative impact on my life for years. Not sure what to do now.
Was diagnosed at 30, privately this year. My GP couldn’t care less and it’s common locally to be advised on considering private care due to the wait.
Pricey, efficient and hoping to do shared care soon. Around £1500 for the whole process but it’s improved my quality of life dramatically.
Boy am I glad I got an NHS assessment quickly and got pretty much the exact same quality of assessment than was described for the private ones.
It’s almost like these people are professionals trained to spot this kind of thing or something.
Though I do agree there isn’t enough discussion on the possible side effects of the medication. I was just prescribed my meds and had to figure it out on my own and even though I found that I was supposed to be getting therapy alongside treatment, the best they could manage was pointing me to charity phonelines.
Thankfully, I’ve been on these meds for about a year now and it’s pretty clear I was right to seek diagnosis.
This condition is ‘New’ and the Tories have gutted public services so I’m not surprised by any of this. I can understand the concern but it’s a bit shocking that the BBC hasn’t even deigned to interview anyone negatively affected by an erroneous diagnosis or find any meaningful harm done by the clinics. The best they could do is find someone who made a complaint who’s supposedly in legal trouble. In fact, it sounds as though she’s angry about NOT getting diagnosed to me.
“There is no doubt that many people who go to private clinics will have ADHD, but experts say patients might not get the right treatment if the assessment was unreliable” add to this dishonest patients dramatically increase likelihood of false positives.
What’s not included in the article is details of the questions asked or as importantly answers given. It is mentioned that symptoms should be impacting a life for a diagnosis to be made, and in most cases a patient dropping a grand on an assessment will be impacted – that’s not crummy money to most people – yet obviously if an undercover reporter is falsely presenting that’s not true and the reporter has intentionally put themself into harms way.
The undercover journalist obviously wasn’t honest to doctors. ADHD patients are asked about careers for example – answer of “I’m an undercover reporter for Panorama” was unlikely to be forthcoming. The extent to which they chose to be dishonest to different doctors isn’t revealed. Now if you present false information to a doctor you are significantly more likely to get a false answer back. This is true for any condition that is assessed qualitatively.
Basically if you tells fibs to a psychologist you can generate false positives. This isn’t surprising. Core part of the evaluation for ADHD is not just the written answers you give but the written answers a family member/partner gives. A manipulated submission is significantly more likely to generate false positives than an honestly filled out one.
“We lied to obtain medical care and obtained medical care” is less of a shocking narrative but never let nuance interrupt a good rage.
After 4 years on a waiting list I was finally seen by adhd360. I had 3 one hour assessments, multiple questionnaires that involved my parents, they even looked at my old school reports (now that was an eye opener for me after nearly 30 years, man I was a dick)
I thought they were pretty professional. Asked about previous mental heath, drug usage etc. I’m a bit broken in a few places and really didn’t want to go the medication route BUT, after a few weeks decided to try it, it’s made a big difference to my life, no idea how I got through the last 40 years so well to be honest.
But
The lack of follow up care is taking its toal and I believe speaking to a phycologist every couple of months would be very beneficial and really should be offered. These meds are not to be messed with and really do depend on your current phycologyal state and sleep, stress is the mind killer and the sleep breaker. A few nights of little or bad sleep can change my mood very quickly into places I havnt been for a long time.
Oh, and something that isn’t made very clear. Even if you get passed back to the NHS, your doctor does not have authority to changes meds or even talk to you about your Adhd, you need to go back to the private clinic.
Good luck all those of this journey.
Here’s food for thought.
In Scotland I definitely can’t get medical cannabis from the NHS, under any circumstances.
But
If I pay a £150 fee to speak to a private doctor, I can have medicinal cannabis for a small fee each month.
I would imagine this is linked to members of parliament to cash in on. Someone’s making a lot of money from it, and it’s not the NHS. Why is that?
Both ADHD meds and (legal) weed exist in this weird grey area where they’re extremely easy to get on private prescription but seemingly very difficult or impossible on the NHS.
I note with interest that the NHS clinician who said he doesn’t have ADHD was the only one to know he was a Panorama journalist investigating diagnostic practices at private clinics, and in an associated article it notes that he’s long had concerns about private clinics and their operation. I’m curious as to whether the journalist would have got the same result if he’d gone undercover in the NHS.
Of course, to go undercover in the NHS he’d have had to have got himself on the waiting list up to five years ago. Because despite the NHS constitution guaranteeing patients the right to be seen within 18 weeks (~4.5 months) of referral for non-urgent care, most people I’ve heard from have been told they can expect to wait more like 2-5 years for their first NHS appointment.
I’m on a waiting list with a private clinic myself, via the NHS right to choose. I would have preferred to be seen by an NHS psychiatrist, but my local NHS adult ADHD service was going to take 3 years to see me, while this clinic promised six months. It’s not one of the ones investigated here, so I really hope the quality of care is good.
There needs to be a greater appreciation of the fact that undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can ruin people’s lives. People drop out of education, lose jobs, struggle with interpersonal relationships, and in some cases end up in trouble with the law. Waiting years for help can be really very damaging.
I’m disappointed that Panorama have emphasised this salacious “people who don’t have ADHD are being falsely diagnosed and prescribed controlled drugs!” angle, rather than focusing on the quality of patient care, the safety of the prescribing process, and the fact that these clinics are even necessary to begin with.
Meanwhile the NHS refuse to see you or dismiss and minimise everything you tell them during your assessment so they can avoid treating you.
It’s almost like patients with psychiatric complaints understand what’s going on in their own mind better than the half arsed clinician listening to them with one eye always on reasons to not treat you.
> But a more detailed, in-person NHS assessment showed he didn’t have the condition.
and could this have anything to do with the fact that doctors hate diagnosing adhd, particularly in women? “if you had adhd you’d be bouncing off the walls”?
if you know, you know. and let me tell you, if you dont, you really fucking dont
3 vs 1 neg and an NHS negative at that.. I don’t really trust the NHS anymore tbh. They’re too understaffed and underfunded. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they don’t want to diagnose people with life long medication requiring disorders or illnesses because it will drain more money on the already empty accounts.
I am jaded as fuck though as I’ve been waiting over a year to be assessed for ADHD despite it’s debilitating effect on my life on the daily and since it was suggested I may have ADHD yet not being checked on it just made my mental health dive down further because clearly no one gives a shit about it, me or how it affects people because it just is not a priority for the NHS. I am one of numerous thousands in the same boat sailing a terrible invisible storm and just white knuckling it.
The Americanisation of our healthcare. Forced to go private, or going to one of these providers paid by the NHS, only for them to prescribe the thing that gives them recurring revenue regardless of what the patient actually needs.
As someone diagnosed at 29 through one of these private services through the NHS right to choose, I hate this take going around.
A large amount of people going to these services get diagnosed, because there’s a high barrier of entry. Who tf is spending a year minimum jumping through hoops for a condition they aren’t struggling with?
My big question though, which I wonder when people also fearmonger about raising awareness of ADHD on social media, is what’s the actual problem? If people “don’t actually” have ADHD, but they have something very similar to ADHD which responds to the same treatment of ADHD, then how is it bad for them to get that support now? Conversely, you also hear “everyone has those struggles” ok, so what’s the problems to moving to a world which is easier to navigate with those problems, wouldn’t that make it better for everyone then?
This infuriates me.
In the UK, we have a significant problem with _under_ diagnosis of ADHD. A very small proportion of the people _with_ ADHD have been diagnosed, and fewer still are actually being treated.
NHS mental health care services are systematically underfunded, and suffering badly for anyone who’s not literally showing up to A&E with slit wrists.
There’s genuinely a scandal here, but it’s nothing to do with defrauding psychiatrists, and everything to do with the NHS having year+ lead times for things that take an hour or two to assess.
ADHD is horribly misunderstood. It’s not actually about Attention Deficit or Hyperactivity at all. It’s about executive function and dopamine deficiency.
So lots of people don’t even realise they have it. I didn’t until 43, when I was extremely close to suicide.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/11yl0cp/adhd_probably_wont_kill_you_but_depression_very/
If you have trouble sustaining focus, and with motivation, to the point where it’s “life impacting” you might have ADHD. 3-5% of the population have it, so it’s not as rare as you might imagine. That’s literally one child in every class.
“Bright but Lazy” might as well be a diagnostic criteria for it.
Oh yes please, make access to ADHD even harder than it is today. What a wonderful idea.
I wonder why people go to private clinics when there’s public health care,hmmm. Why don’t they also do an undercover investigation on it.
So I want you all to know: Defrauding a psychiatrists isn’t the ‘gotcha’ that it’s portrayed to be.
Any of you who have been diagnosed – and weren’t defrauding the psychiatrist – have no reason to doubt your diag.
They asked questions, you met the criteria. You presumably respond to the medication.
End of story.
Training as a Psychiatrist is a long and extensive process. They’re registered with the GMC, and ‘malpractice’ is an ugly term that every doctor treads carefully around.
There’s simply no shortage of people ‘queuing’ to get diagnosed at the moment – the NHS lead times are disgusting – and your assessor gets paid whether it’s a ‘yep’ or a ‘nope’.
So there’s simply no reason to give you a fake diag.
By the time _most_ people get as far as NHS doctor, or paying for private assessment, they’ve already:
– Self assessed, and decided it’s ‘worth the wait’ (or cost).
– Been referred, by someone who’s also looked at the criteria, and said ‘yes, seems to fit’ and referred you to a specialist. They may not be a full psychiatrist, but they’re still typically someone looking to act in the best interests of healthcare.
– A psychiatrist has done the same, using EXTENSIVE experience of psychiatric medicine, and with HUGE professional consequences for malpractice.
That’s truly about as ‘robust’ as you get.
Sometimes the diagnosis is quick – because there’s some people who are so OBVIOUS that they have ADHD, you don’t need to waste too much time asking them ‘well duh’ sorts of questions. Others take longer, because you might need to unpick anxiety, depression, ASD _and/or_ other comorbid conditions.
Length of assessment isn’t any sort of measure of quality.
So anyone who’s getting questioned about their diag being fake: Don’t feel like they’ve got _any_ sort of point. Even if you were diagnosed by the clinics here. Just because someone defrauded a psychiatrist, doesn’t mean they’re systematically “making mistakes” and even if they were, that _still_ doesn’t stop you having ADHD in the first place, as the reason you were seeking diagnosis!
Defrauding a psychiatrist probably isn’t too hard if you know what you’re doing. But why would you bother? It’s honestly cheaper and faster to get ADHD medication in other illegal ways if you know what you’re doing. (No, I’m not going to tell you. But trust me, I _have_ looked, and it’s not nearly as hard as you might assume – buying illegally might even be cheaper for some of the medication options!).
Incredibly dishonest to compare undercover private clinic appointments with meeting a senior consultant psychiatrist who knows about the investigation
Hello ADHD 360 patient here!
I am also on stimulants and sleeping medication and I had to refer through my GP to get them.
What the article fails to mention is the follow up monthly phone calls to constantly check the medication isn’t adversely affecting my mental or physical health. Before i can get any more medication I have to submit blood pressure results as well as well as my current body weight.
Rest assured they are definitely not handing them out like sweets! This article doesn’t mention these double check at all, so I’m highly sceptical that they’ve done proper research and interviewed former ADHD 360 patients like myself
No one dropping £500-£1000 to access a private ADHD assessment is doing it for shits and giggles. I’m not surprised that the rate of diagnosis is so high in private clinics as it’s a self selecting group of people that go to the lengths of seeking them out.
I was diagnosed through one of the clinics mentioned in the article. The service isn’t perfect but since I have titrated to a stable dose my life has absolutely gotten better, my anxiety is almost non existent anymore and my confidence and mental health in general is vastly improved.
The dosing has been properly monitored, so have my vitals throughout.
ADHD is difficult to properly diagnose accurately 100% of the time. Sometimes just starting people on a drug and seeing how it works when there is enough evidence to support doing so is better than never prescribing at all.
I haven’t felt in a lurch where they just have chucked me some drugs and said alright on your way nor do I feel they have been in any way reckless about it.
I’d take that over waiting 3 years on NHS. I know someone who did go through the NHS and trying to get follow ups and drug changes has been difficult for them. I never have had to deal with that.
My partner is a French national, thought she had ADHD and got it assessed there while she was visiting her parents. Full day assessment by an ADHD specialist, who focused on female adult ADHD, who was also a doctor registered in the UK, undertaking various tests and exercises for just a few hundred Euros. She was diagnosed shortly after, and within a couple weeks had all the necessary sessions with psychiatrists and the hospital before getting her Ritalin prescription.
France would only give her a month’s prescription at a time, so when she came back to the UK she arranged a GP appointment and brought along her diagnosis, prescription and psychiatric assessment documentation (all in English) to get the prescription sorted here. Was told that she would need to be re-diagnosed in the UK (even though the French doctor was registered in the UK) and that the waiting list was over 3 years, so we should go private.
We contacted a local private ADHD centre who quoted us >£3k for a diagnosis and prescription. They said they could only ignore the existing diagnosis (which was the result of an intensive assessment) that their process was to get us to complete some forms and surveys followed by some psychiatric sessions. We didn’t progress with that.
Now I’ve got a promotion at work which came with BUPA (now AXA) cover. Both providers rejected her claim for diagnosis as they both specifically exclude ADHD. We are now going through the process of getting her a generic psychiatric assessment for her mental health issues (all as a result of the ADHD) and hoping that a diagnosis will fall out of this. I was told by a therapist that this is the only way to get a diagnosis on private insurance. This is all just for diagnosis and a prescription, not even ongoing treatment/ support- that’s just simply off the table.
We’re in touch with the psychiatrist’s office and are just waiting on the GP sending her docs over before arranging an appointment. But we’ve been foiled at every turn in trying to sort this so am not expecting anything. All the while my partner is powerless to help herself and can’t hold a job or keep on top of daily life.
It’s all fucking disgraceful.
This is horribly bad timing for me. I’ve just been diagnosed by a private clinic and am still working through coming to terms with it. It has been really difficult to put 2 and 2 together and understand just how much its impacted my life in such a negative way, although I was starting to come to terms with it and teach myself that it’s not some completely awful thing, and that It doesn’t have to stop me from doing what I want. However, now this has come out and, whilst I’m not disagreeing with it, my dad now thinks the clinic misdiagnosed me for money and now I’m back to the beginning- doubting myself, thinking i’m just lazy, looking for an excuse, need to just work harder, etc…
and of course there’s a panorama thing about it tonight that he will be watching:(
TL;DR – This is discrimination not journalism ignoring the real truth here and a personal report on my experiences with ADHD and the NHS.
The real headline –
ADHD: BBC “investigation” exposed for obvious bias and discrimination to ADHD patients with a life-long and chronic disability by unsubtly and wrongly labelling patients as fakes, over-prescribed and drug addicts. Ignores alternative reasons for the necessity of these morally dubious but legal practices.
I ask, where’s the control patient? Why didn’t the reporter present with his actual normal non-ADHD symptoms instead of acting as if he had the condition and conning the doctor as if he had ADHD?
Are they aware mental health conditions are diagnosed by consult and presentation? What is the doctor supposed to say? You’re lying? He cheated the doctor on purpose.
The reporter led the doctor to make a false diagnosis. That is fraud and this is fake journalism and literal discrimination of the disabled by the BBC and will only create stigma in the name of “investigative” journalism.
Are there bad operators in every sphere of medicine? Yes. Did they even try to find good clinics like the one I was forced to go to? No.
This BBC “Investigation” fails to even mention the 32 years out of the last 50 of Conservative government. A government who have been responsible for underfunding and managing the NHS and mental health treatment so badly that taxpayers are forced to use shady but 100% legal private clinics to get ANY kind of help in a reasonable time frame.
Is this the way forward? No. But is the government doing anything to help patients anymore? No. Are the NHS and patients out of options? Yes.
My experiences –
“I do not blame the NHS in any way. They have been mismanaged and underfunded with intent for well over the last decade. The PM and his wife/family literally have a vested financial interest in privatisation of the NHS. It is criminal levels of greed and power that can’t go be allowed to continue”.
“I was misdiagnosed well over a decade ago after a couple of short NHS psych sessions with major depressive disorder and type 2 bipolar. I was prescribed a selection of the wrong meds for nearly the last two decades. No therapy. No counselling. Just drugs and near-silence until I almost died.
I saw NHS mental health services barely less than once a year after this diagnosis and short consultation. This is not for a lack of trying. It’s not shade on them but GP’s get bored of you pretty quickly when theres little they can do
It is also not their fault. There is no money or time for therapy or regular appointments in general. I have had therapy over the years privately but without knowing my proper diagnosis it all fell a bit short.
This all came to a head when I tried to take my own life just over 5 years ago and was referred to an emergency mental health service. My meds were not changed even after I said they weren’t working. They said I was just depressed and it was just a bad episode.
There was one amazing outcome though because I was prescribed a CBT course of therapy through i-talk. I was incredibly grateful for this and completed this fantastic therapy course and whilst it helped me get over the worst of my depression and suicidal ideation the counsellor even said at the end there was something going on they couldn’t put their finger on.
Due to actively working on my mental health I began to question my diagnosis and whether it was accurate and it was during this time that I came across the ADHD condition
This was not through the NHS but because I happened to watch (HOWTOADHD) Jessica MCcabe giving a talk on TED on the subject. It was like shining a light on everything that was wrong with my mental health.
From that point it took over two years to even get a referral to an out of county ADHD service. I read plenty on Reddit and the internet about waiting times and having to go private and this was nearly 5 years ago now. I started to save and I’m glad I did.
So 2 more years of the wrong drugs and treatment lost and on receiving the referral the NHS clinic were saying that 18 months waiting time for assessment was the average. I would be looking at pretty much 4 years total to see someone.
The nurse even said sorry as we’d spoken a couple of times by this point. They suggested a highly reputable and recommended private doctor to check out. They did not suggest an instant appointment with a VOD “Doctor”.
I was forced to wait or to go to a private clinic to pay for assessment. I went private at great cost. This process cost £2-3000 (not including therapy). If you’re wondering why it was so much I had to have monthly appointments and a screening over a minimum of two sessions.
This was done as if it were on the NHS with school reports and questionnaires from multiple people who knew me then and now. I was properly diagnosed, cared for and titrated.
Part of the cost was the prescriptions are incredibly expensive and it took months for my GP to agree a shared care agreement because they are controlled drugs.
The doctor I saw is an expert on ADHD in the NHS and helps the NHS as much as they can but with what doctors get paid do you blame them for doing private work?
I don’t regret going private but it came at great financial cost and I often wonder if the NHS psychs had had a little more funding and time whether my life outcome would have been different.
Its a double edged sword because I’m lucky to be here and I do have the NHS to thank for that but I often wonder if things could have been different. I just wish it were different for everyone. I’m lucky to be alive. Many are not. Not everyone gets a second chance like I did or can save money like I had to.
This is the governments fault not the NHS’s. I’ve proudly paid tax all my life and I wish the great people that make up the NHS were supported and funded to provide the world class care that they already do but made easier with genuine support”.
“Now I’m properly treated my life has been unrecognisable and all sorts of options have become possible because I can actually function as a “normal” adult. I wish I’d known what I know now decades ago but at least now I get the chance to make something of my life. Anyone with mental health problems and disabilities should get that chance.”
FML. Ten years of being treated for anxiety and depression through the NHS, finally get to an NHS psychiatrist, they suggest ADHD, pandemic happens, in the queue for an ADHD assessment for the next four years, get desperate, pay for a private assessment (none of these three mind you), pay for the meds, then a month ago the NHS say they’re giving up on the queue I’m in and moving us to ADHD360, I get assessed by them, woohoo meds are free now, finally I’m sorted.
And now this.
Given that three private providers assessed him based on supply of history and following diagnostic criteria, and who were unaware of his intent, assessed him as having adhd… and the nhs psychiatrist (who may also do private work) who was aware that he was a journalist looking at this, may have been biased in their review.
He would need to have gone to three nhs providers really, but it’s still biased.
This is already making people doubt their own health
This guy went into the NHS clinic telling them that he was doing an investigation into too easy adhd diagnoses at private hospitals and got them to do an assessment. Then he went private and didn’t tell them? This is poor investigative journalism but the hidden point is that he would never have got the NHS interview if he hadn’t told them it was for a report beforehand
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I understand that this is an emotive issue – my son has ADHD and the journey to get diagnosis and treatment was a struggle. CAMHS has been underfunded for years and is effectively broken.
It’s worth watching the documentary with an open mind. The companies that were investigated did not follow clinical best practice and that should be a cause for concern.
I’m one of those people who filled out and submitted ADHD assessment via my GP last year with absolutely no idea when I’ll hear back or even if I will be approved for an assessment via the NHS. I’m considering private as a truly last resort because it’s the only alternative should the NHS decide my symptoms do not want a diagnosis with them.
I was pre warned by my GP that it could be months even years of waiting until I hear back and advised quite candidly that if I was in the financial position to seek private treatment I should, despite the fact it would be difficult for me to do so.
It’s so unbelievably frustrating to witness such a shoddy lack of funding in the NHS for such a condition. I’m a adult in her 30’s who just wants treatment, not game the fucking system.
I think this investigation by the BBC was well intended, but it’s done more damage than good. Question is what happens as a result of this investigation- more funding for the NHS for ADHD or simply nothing?
Okay so let’s check the timeline
– A couple of years ago we have a [report](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8017218/) that suggests people in the UK with ADHD are seriously being failed, not just with waiting lists – but because of the bias and stigma that still surrounds the condition (note that this report was conducted by experts in the field, not journalists)
– We have follow up [reports](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-022-04290-7) that make suggestions on how to address the issue, whilst also confirming that there’s a problem
– Earlier this year we have a cross-party [debate](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-02-06/debates/183A24F1-C943-4D2E-8238-4B03AF11D715/AutismAndADHDAssessments) that again concludes the treatment people with ADHD (and ASD) face on the NHS is dire, and something needs to be changed
– aaand now we’re getting BBC hit pieces against ADHD, little more than shoddy journalism that will only serve to increase the bias and stigma ADHDers face
If you go to an NHS psychiatrist, say that you’re a journalist investigating potentially dodgy private practices, chances are that’s going to bias him a little against diagnosing you (not to mention that the level of his assessment was well above the level most can expect to experience on the NHS, if they can stomach the 3-5yr waiting lists – you’re more likely to face dismissive condescension than 3hr chats with a psychiatrist)
then he goes to three private practices, all of whom diagnose him – ADHD is not a discrete condition, a binary yes or no. It does have some element of subjectivity and clearly three independent practitioners decided he met the criteria, against one (biased) practitioner who decided he didn’t
I will concede that the shared clip on the BBC page was poor, but not at all indicative of the private diagnosis I received (with ADHD360, one of the providers listed), and we don’t know how much was selective editing
we also have no idea how he answered the forms, how he explained the level of impairment he faced or how he addressed issues around childhood symptoms… either he lied (explicitly or through omission) or there is some genuine need for help there. (Perhaps the medication might even have helped him!)
end of the day, ADHD is [under-diagnosed](https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2752/rr-5) in the UK, it’s a fairly common condition with a history going back [hundreds of years](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000907/) (so not just a modern phenomenon), and we know that the impact of untreated ADHD is considerable, both to the individual and to wider society (health costs, incarceration etc), I think it’s very poor form for the BBC to put out such sub-standard journalism at a time when mental health treatment in the UK is in crisis
if anyone wants help or advice on the condition, please join us at r/ADHDUK (we also have an extensive [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHDUK/wiki/faq/) that will hopefully answer some of the more common questions and signposts some useful resources)
This “investigation” is so incredibly biased it’s a joke. This is not journalism it’s sensationalist garbage.
A message to the journalist: This is some shoddy work. You could have helped tighten up the regulations, but instead you’ve helped demonise something in a sensationalist, shallow, poorly researched and completely biased report, about an issue that is under diagnosed and misunderstood. BRAVO.
The truth is that there is a problem with this and it does need closely monitoring and addressing, but the way this information is being presented it so one-sided and designed to create a public reaction that I think it could negatively impact young people who actually do need to get help but their parents read/watch garbage like this.
There is not an alternative, the NHS wait times are tragic. I’d be dead long before I’d get an appointment. I’m not being hyperbolic, there are a stack of negative impacts and mental health problems that come with not knowing you have ADHD.
Getting my diagnosis was like someone finally handed me the correct instruction manual to my operating system. Before then I was looking at the the non-neurodivergent manual and wondering why my menu screen didn’t have the same buttons, or why I couldn’t change the speed or volume!
This article talks about mental health only when it confirms their bias. They show a shallow understanding of ADHD and the long term coping mechanisms, compulsions and anxiety people get from “never quite fitting in” or “always being late”. My mental health has never been this good.
My online assessment contained a series of questionnaires with myself and my husband. Sure it was only an hour for the first session, but in that hour we talked childhood trauma, it was intense in a good way and my doctor gave me a lot of really excellent reading advice (The Body Keeps A Score). I then had a full titration period with a nurse where we monitored my heart rate, weight, mood and blood pressure as we figured out the meds over a series of days, maybe weeks I can’t remember. I have yearly catch ups with my doctor. Hour long sessions to make sure I’m on the right meds, and that I still need to be on them. I look forward to those chats because I get to tell her all the ways she’s improved my life and thank her!
(This was psychiatry-uk)
They have no incentive to give me a false diagnosis. Both the doctor and nurse encouraged me to get the sign off from my doctor to get them via the NHS, which was actually easy to do.
Many people don’t even get meds after getting the diagnosis. This article is frustrating because it just assumes that all people are stupid and incapable of making adult decisions about their own health. Many people I know found out they had ADHD and we’re like “cool, I’m glad I know. I’ll just make these few life changes and let work know”.
On a personal anecdotal note: My life has been changed on Lisdexamfetamine. I sleep better, eat better, no longer drink, am focused at work, am present in meetings and I no longer need to over stimulate. There may be a better term for this but by “not overstimulate” I mean I can watch TV. Just watch TV. I don’t have to be playing on my laptop, texting and chain-snacking to watch TV. Boredom used to feel like agony to me, now I can do things that were impossible like wait patiently in a queue, cardio at the gym, listen to a boring monologue without wanting to scream at the speaker (though I do still struggle with interrupting and jumping ahead).
Most importantly, I want to get up in the morning. I want to be a part of the world. I don’t dwell on the stupid thing I said in a meeting 8 years ago, I don’t get anxiety over a delayed train, I don’t blame myself or try to change who I am because some people find me annoying. I just move on and find my own tribe of understanding weirdos.
So though I do think way too many people jumped onto the ADHD bandwagon, some people doing it to avoid addressing other problems in their life and needing a quick solution that they can cling to in order to avoid doing the harder work and tell themselves “it’s just how I am are wired”, or those people that like to make a new “in” thing part of their personality (you know, the people who are not actually bi, or not actually vegan or not actually gluten intolerant) that seem to jump from one thing to another and make it 100% of their personality. They are easy to spot, they are the people on Instagram that suddenly flood your feed with ADHD memes.
But the BBC should be ashamed at how obviously biased and shallow this investigation looks. What’s to say the NHS doctor is right? I’ve had some terrible experiences with IRL doctors. I was once given bowel tables for period pain. Then the next doctor called that previous doctor an idiot.
In this article the guy says they randomly talked about football players for a bit. I was like “dude, did you create that tangent?” Because the doctor was likely thinking that this was more evidence that you have ADHD! This is the kind of stuff they are looking for dummy.
3 online doctors say you have it. 1 irl doctors says you don’t. But this is hardly a fair blind study is it. You’ve hugely tampered with the results by not giving the 3 doctors the same information as the 1.
The IRL one knew you wanted to prove that you didn’t have ADHD. YOU wanted to prove that you didn’t have it. There is no way that when you talked to him this didn’t affect how you behaved. That’s the story you are trying to write. You’ve sunk time and money into it. You’ve gotten excited at the prospect of a big panorama take down and now everything you do is tainted by your desire to prove your bias.
Wow. I’ve just watched this episode and cannot believe how fearmoungering and manipulative it was.
I myself was for years misdiagnosed by nhs GPs with general anxiety to only realise in my late 20s that all my symptoms and experiences could be actually linked to ADHD. I then waited for over 2 years on the nhs for an assessment before reaching burnout again deciding to go private in desperation for help and stuggling to keep up with my job. I can’t believe they would publish something so damaging when the NHS is doing absolutely nothing to help the situation.
Like oh you think you have adhd, well you either gp private and get a make believe diagnosis or we will just refuse to treat you for years… what?
This has made me so angry that I’m actually writing to the BBC, never thought I’d be this person tbh.
Man lies about untestable mental condition. Gets people to corroborate lies. Doctor assesses based on lies and provide diagnosis.
This isn’t journalism. That would be investigating why the NHS waiting times are so long people are forced to the private clinics to receive the help they desperately need.
The NHS experience of ADHD is a joke.
For me, the possibility of having ADHD first occurred last year as a result of my partner seeing reels on Instagram and saying “hey, this is a lot like you”. After a bit of reading into the subject using information provided by the NHS, I arranged an appointment with the GP to discuss this and find out what their thoughts were and what my options might be. The GP was completely dismissive without actually hearing why I thought I had it, and said that even if I did I wouldn’t be able to get any sort of help for it as the local (Cheshire) ADHD services had a multi-year waiting list and they only treated the most severe cases.
Well lo and behold, 7 months later and I have been diagnosed with combined type ADHD by a local private clinic. After months of introspection and analysing my life with close family I’ve realised that the signs were always there. Viewing my life through the lens of ADHD makes everything make sense, and I have been consuming as much knowledge as possible through watching lectures on YouTube and reading source material. I won’t go into the more personal details, but after a decade of mental health struggles my life is finally starting to make sense and improve.
For someone to say flipently that watching Tiktok and diagnosing yourself isn’t valid makes my blood boil. Sure watching a few tiktoks isn’t enough for a diagnosis, but I’ve spoken to people who dismiss ADHD as a possibility without knowing anything about me.
All private clinics offering ADHD services should be assessed critically to the same standard we would expect from the NHS, but unfortunately this capability is limited for the same reason as why the NHS can’t even come close to meeting the demand for assessment: Underfunding.
I think we can agree that it would be unacceptable for someone with a broken leg to wait for a minimum of 2 years to get help, so why should someone who has an undiagnosed disability be left to struggle for that long while their life crumbles around them? If the statistics on ADHD is to be believed, it is a massive public health issue that desperately needs to be addressed. We either need more funding for the NHS to meet demand, or a properly funded regulatory body to ensure standards of care are being met by the private alternatives.
This undercover investigation is the sort of thing that should be done privately by an official regulator. Doing a hit piece like this is so harmful for the public perception of ADHD and does nothing but rile up ignorant bigots to belittle a thoroughly researched disability.
What an utterly fucking bullshit methodology. The NHS opinion was obtained under very different circumstances…with the doctor being aware this was all a test.
Meanwhile the private providers were tested unknowingly, and perhaps took as a given that if you have sought them out you certainly consider these symptoms to be impacting your day to day life.
This was a rigged comparison and utterly shit journalism rolled into one.
Of course, they could not do a true like for like comparison because without being upfront about what they were doing they’d have to actually wait to see an NHS psychiatrist for years which is too long for a cheap pitch to the editor.