12 September 2025
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is calling for urgent national consistency for ADHD management, as Health Ministers meet to discuss the issue today. The RACP says that thousands of Australian people with ADHD are struggling with confusing access to appropriate care and unpredictable medicine shortages, and calls for all Australian Governments to act.
President of the RACP Paediatrics and Child Health Division, Dr Niroshini Kennedy says “A nationally consistent approach to diagnosing and treating patients with ADHD is well overdue.
“ADHD affects approximately 281,200 children and adolescents (aged 0-19 years) and 533,300 adults (aged 20+ years) in Australia[1].
“ADHD is one of the most frequent diagnoses that paediatricians work with, so it’s vital that we see governments around Australia working together with the Medical Colleges – including the RACP, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) – to enable safe, quality and appropriate ADHD care.
“As paediatricians, we support safe, shared care models with GPs, and we want to see GPs supported to continue ongoing ADHD care that is initiated by either a paediatrician or psychiatrist and supported to initiate treatment where appropriate.
“Without clear and standardised national standards that address complexity, especially in children, simply expanding GP scope of practice to assess, diagnose and initiate treatment can pose a significant risk, particularly with challenging presentations.
“We need to find a balance between improving access to appropriate care and ensuring that initial assessments are provided by paediatricians or psychiatrists – especially in complex cases,” says Dr Kennedy.
The RACP says the answer lies in a ‘tiered model’ and appropriate referral pathways.
At a roundtable of Medical Colleges and key stakeholders, convened in August by the RACP, stakeholders agreed that governments must establish a nationally consistent approach, and explored scope for the RACGP, RANZCP and RACP to work together on online education to best support GPs.
[1] The social and economic costs of ADHD in Australia Report prepared for the Australian ADHD Professionals Association July 2019 Deloitte Access Economics
[2] Health Ministers Meeting Communiqué: 12 September 2025