{"id":612145,"date":"2025-12-04T18:15:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/612145\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:15:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:15:32","slug":"adhd-needs-assessment-must-be-turning-point-for-northern-ireland-services-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/612145\/","title":{"rendered":"ADHD needs assessment must be \u2018turning point\u2019 for Northern Ireland services \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long delayed report aimed at confirming the demand for ADHD<\/a> services in Northern Ireland must not become \u201canother document that sits on a shelf\u201d, it has been warned.<\/p>\n

A needs assessment by the Department of Health, to ensure regional consistency across the north\u2019s health trust areas, had initially been due to be completed by June.<\/p>\n

Following months of delay, a report on the assessment was due to be with departmental officials by the end of November.<\/p>\n

Following this, the report will then be published in \u201cearly 2026\u2033, according to health minister Mike Nesbitt.<\/p>\n

\"Body<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Adult ADHD services are currently not officially commissioned in the north, meaning waiting times vary by health trust area.<\/p>\n

A 2024 Assembly briefing paper stated that the majority of children and adults in the north are waiting \u201cunduly long times\u201d for a diagnostic assessment \u2013 up to eight years for adults, and five years for children in some cases.<\/p>\n

This has resulted in more people seeking costly private diagnoses.<\/p>\n

Responding to a recent written question from Alliance MLA Peter McReynolds on the likelihood of the report being published before the year is out, the minister advised it would not be made available before January.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the report is received, I and my officials will consider the findings, with a view to identifying next steps and arranging publication thereafter,\u201d Mr Nesbitt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile a date for publication cannot be confirmed prior to receipt of the report, the expectation is that the report will be published in early 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belfast charity ADDNI told the Irish News that the assessment report must mark a \u201cturning point\u201d for services in the north.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see real action come from it,\u201d the charity\u2019s chief executive Sarah Salters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, NI\u2019s ADHD community is being failed at multiple levels; from assessment delays, to lack of support and understanding across services, a lack of priority until now has been shown. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to children, young people, adults and families to make sure this report leads to meaningful change, not another document that sits on a shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long delayed report aimed at confirming the demand for ADHD services in Northern Ireland must not become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2012,2266,218,211,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-612145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-adhd","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-nhs","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115662667397940614","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}