Tasmanians with ADHD are facing costly healthcare barriers, according to Senate Inquiry report

Tasmanians living with ADHD are facing significant and costly barriers when it comes to seeking access to healthcare for the condition, a recent report has found.

Sam Mitchell who has ADHD and started a Tasmanian group for neurodivergent people. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

For his whole life, Sam Mitchell has carried the stigma of not being seen and recognised as someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

“In the education system, I felt left out and felt different to the point where I literally had teachers make me sit at tables by myself at the back of the room, because I was too difficult for them to deal with and I never quite fit it in,” the 31-year-old said.

“That [stayed] with me a long time, and then as I went to uni as an adult, went back on to treatment, that stigma still stuck around.”

Mr Mitchell was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 10.

He later co-created a Tasmanian ADHD support group with his mum, Anne Mitchell, on social media after facing further barriers when seeking treatment as an adult in Tasmania.

Mr Mitchell said receiving an ADHD diagnosis was akin to “starting again” for some. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“There’s a lot of stigma around when it comes to being seen and recognised as someone with a disability, and as someone who has a condition that deeply impacts our lives,” he said.

“You get diagnosed, you take the medication, you understand more about yourself and you realise we have to rebuild our lives from the ground up again.

“It’s almost like starting again, and for a lot of people that’s very overwhelming.”

A recent Senate Inquiry report into ADHD was released and found that prescribing rules, specialist access, cost, location and different state laws were creating barriers to access.

Australian Medical Association Tasmania active member and retired general practitioner, Dr Clare Smith, said there was a lot of barriers within the health system that hindered children with ADHD from accessing services.

“After being referred by a GP, children who get to see the pediatrician who assesses them and diagnoses them with ADHD; in Tasmania, but not in all states, we have a single prescriber model which means only one doctor holds the prescribing rights,” Dr Smith said.

Sam Mitchell, 31. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“They have to be reviewed by specialists every year and you need a minimum of two visits per year to get your six monthly scripts if everything’s going smoothly.

“What it actually means is paediatricians have to see every child in Tasmania with ADHD and they have to see all those children twice a year until they get to 18 to provide their medication. That just kills their books.”

People who are diagnosed with ADHD as an adult must be assessed by a psychiatrist, which usually comes at a hefty price of between $700 and $3000.

“They’re very few psychiatrists taking patients for assessment in Tasmania. There’s all these barriers to care, the further away from the main centre you go the worse it is, the more expensive it is,” she said.