\u201cI found if I really leaned into my neurodiversity, then I could discover my strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harnessing those strengths has allowed him to cross the Sahara Desert on foot, run across the Arctic to the North Pole and win a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest marathon while dressed as a fisherman in gumboots, waterproofs and carrying a tackle box (four hours and 37 minutes), and build a successful career as a business coach.<\/p>\n
Initially diagnosed with ADHD by a psychologist, Bennett then had to go to a private psychiatrist to be assessed and prescribed medication.<\/p>\n
Wider prescribing rights \u2013 but at what cost?<\/p>\n
Since GPs were stripped of their authority to prescribe stimulants in 1999 (because of concerns the drugs could be abused), only paediatricians and psychiatrists have been permitted to diagnose ADHD and prescribe drugs.<\/p>\n
College of GPs president Luke Bradford said the lack of capacity in the public system has forced adult patients to go private.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got people doing telehealth consults for people they\u2019ve never seen, and then not following through on the treatment and just handing them back to the GP to initiate, titrate [adjust the dose] and manage without having actually done the work in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was not best service for patients, it was becoming overly expensive and overly commercialised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision to widen prescribing rules was signed off by Pharmac and Medsafe last year, with cross-party support from MPs wanting to see faster access to assessments and treatment.<\/p>\n
Under the new rules, there are no government requirements for accreditation for GPs and nurse practitioners wishing to provide ADHD services \u2013 and no additional government funding for training \u2013 but they are expected to do so.<\/p>\n
Professional bodies have developed training packages, with about 600 GPs registering for a recent series of eight online seminars.<\/p>\n
Bradford said, however, not every GP would have the capacity to offer ADHD assessments, which did not fit into the usual 15-minute appointment slot. A complete assessment took at least 90 minutes, possibly over several sessions, plus extensive questionnaires.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re expecting is that instead of psychiatrists charging up to $2000 in some cases, we\u2019ll see much more reasonable rates, but acknowledging that one-and-a-half hours of GP time is going to be in the hundreds of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diagnosis just the beginning \u2013 advocates<\/p>\n
ADHD New Zealand is advocating for increased access to publicly-funded diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Sarah Hogan said diagnosis was \u201cjust the first step\u201d \u2013 and there were currently no specific services in the public system for people with ADHD.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for a lot of people their mental health needs are as a result of having lived with ADHD undiagnosed and untreated and all the spinoff effects of that life and the health consequences of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Psychotherapist Tami Harris from Acorn Neurodiversity, a not-for-profit organisation providing multidisciplinary support for children with ADHD, said while the public system accepted referrals for children, there was \u201ca very high bar\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually terrible things need to have happened. And so what we see is people not getting a diagnosis and just being called \u2018naughty\u2019 or \u2018bad\u2019, then that affects their feelings about themselves and they may be more likely to get into addictions or offending behaviours or not be able to learn at school, and then their future potential is really diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that GPs would have to charge for adult assessments meant those barriers would remain, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still not an accessible service, it still doesn\u2019t address the equity problems in terms of getting a diagnosis. So it\u2019s really frustrating in terms of how it\u2019s been done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will help down the road in terms of getting it sorted, but it\u2019s not going to be what people expect on February 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents\u2019 struggle<\/p>\n
For Bennett\u2019s son, who is now 11, it took two years to get diagnosed through the public system.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a parent I found it really overwhelming and really confusing because I felt my son was having to put his life on hold, and I saw this boy who was creative, talented, energetic, charismatic but he was suffering because he wasn\u2019t getting the help he needed, and we as parents weren\u2019t getting the answers we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result of his family\u2019s experience, Bennett and his wife (developmental paediatrician Dr Sarah Moll) set up an ADHD clinic in Tauranga, Bay Paediatrics.<\/p>\n
Many families were asking why it was now easier for adults to get support, while their children were stuck on waiting lists or fragmented care pathways, Bennett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communications around the change have been really poor, as well. A lot of parents think that on February 1 their GP will be able to assess their child, and that\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furthermore, he was sceptical that stretched and overworked GPs would be able to provide the wraparound support needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re facing a neurodiversity tsunami. They\u2019re doing their best to hold back the tide, but it\u2019s an impossible job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, those who are diagnosed with ADHD may struggle to get medication.<\/p>\n
The new rules were initially slated to come into effect in July 2025, but delayed because of concerns about supply problems for ADHD medication.<\/p>\n
Pharmac said shortages were expected to continue throughout this year.<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI found if I really leaned into my neurodiversity, then I could discover my strengths.\u201d Harnessing those strengths…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":559401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[34],"tags":[1908,6997,41512,381,29540,210,17360,3228,1060,6008,642,244396,244397,21966,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-559400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-after","tag-change","tag-concern","tag-for","tag-gps","tag-health","tag-hill","tag-law","tag-medication","tag-neurodiversity","tag-not","tag-ready","tag-ruth","tag-tsunami","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115997313064187648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}