Families seeking a GP to assess ADHD in Victoria were pointed to a Department of Health directory listing at least 15 services that were not accepting patients under the program, including one that had closed.
A handful of participating clinics, whose GPs had completed RACGP training, were omitted from the list altogether.
In February, the state government announced it would invest $750,000 to provide accredited training for an initial cohort of 150 GPs by September this year.
From Monday 26 October, 150 newly trained GPs across Victoria could diagnose, treat, and prescribe medication for ADHD in adults and children aged six and older, an initiative that Premier Ben Carroll said would “save families time and money”.
Previously, restrictions to specialist paediatric or psychiatric care meant high out-of-pocket costs – upwards of $2000 – and lengthy wait times of up to six to 12 months.
With an estimated 320,000 adults and 163,000 children in Victoria living with ADHD, RACGP Victoria chair Dr Anita Muñoz said that a limited pool of GPs meant there would not be a “flood” of available appointments and affirmed the need to train more GPs.
“While 150 new [GP] prescribers is a fantastic beginning, it’s not going to meaningfully change the ADHD landscape in our state until we have trained probably four or five times that number of people,” she told TMR.
She also affirmed that the accredited prescribers were still expected to continue serving their everyday clientele.
“Some clinics have quite rationally said, ‘We were selected specifically because we have come from an area of need. And we have clinics full of patients who have been waiting for assessments or cannot afford them.
“With the amount of personnel we have, and the number of appointments we can offer, given that these assessments take a lot of time, we will service the communities that we work in first before we accept referrals from outside,” Dr Muñoz said.
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“[The RACGP is] just waiting for the Department of Health to agree with us, so that we can increase the workforce capacity,” she said.
“We’re making it easier and cheaper for hardworking Victorians to access a timely ADHD diagnosis,” health minister Ingrid Stitt said.
However, 14 services were removed from the official services list and five were added in the days following Mr Carroll and Ms Stitt’s announcement, according to Nine Newspapers.
Some of the clinics which appeared on the list offered no GP services at all, while others were specialist services, such as emergency and mental health units, that did not book consultations.
The Living Room, which provided support to people experiencing homelessness, was only removed from the official list on 6 November, despite having closed in October.
Directory changes included instances where ADHD-trained doctors had consented to the publication of their details before later requesting their removal, according to Nine Newspapers.
A government spokesperson told TMR clinics could be removed when GPs were at full patient capacity and unable to take on new patients, then added again when capacity increased.
The government asked the RACGP to ensure doctors informed their clinics about their public listing in its directory and their participation in the program, Nine reported.
The initiative follows PBAC’s expansion of subsidised access to non-stimulant ADHD medicines atomoxetine and guanfacine last month.
Since last October, almost 300 NSW GPs have been able to diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for ADHD as part of a $11.7 million government-funded package.
Updated: TMR received a response from the Department of Health Victoria after deadline.
The post UPDATED: ADHD clinic directory sends patients astray appeared first on Medical Republic.
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