Public policy / Adult ADHD
Posted by: Kye Stone4 min read

Adult ADHD Services in Northern Ireland: No Funded Pathway, So People Are Paying Thousands for Private Care

Turn 18 and, as one woman put it, you're on your own.

Posted by: Kye Stone4 min read
Illustrative scene of appointment paperwork, an invoice, wallet and bank card by a window overlooking Belfast.

No funded adult pathway

Adult ADHD services in Northern Ireland aren't set up the way they are in the rest of the UK. BBC News NI reported on 23 October 2026 that Northern Ireland "doesn't have a formally commissioned, publicly funded adult ADHD pathway like in other parts of the UK", and adults with ADHD there are now calling for urgent action. The people the BBC spoke to have ended up paying for private care themselves or travelling to get seen.

Paying £4,000 a year

Rebecca Bryson and her husband, Colum Coyle, both have ADHD. Between them they spend about £4,000 a year on private psychiatric reviews, prescriptions and medication. Rebecca told the BBC they can only cover it because she works multiple jobs, and she called the situation "wildly unfair and kind of inhumane". Her summary of the system is blunt: "You can get a diagnosis as a child, but once you turn 18, you're on your own. It's bananas."

Nowhere to get seen

Jordan Young, 28, tried to get help closer to home first. "I was basically told that the doors were closed, they weren't taking anyone else on," he told the BBC. In the end he travelled to England for a private diagnosis, which was paid for through his granny's private health insurance. Not everyone has that option.

Stuck between systems

GPs are in an awkward spot too. GP Dr Allen McCullough told the BBC: "I can refer to an adult ADHD service within my local area, but that's in the full knowledge that there isn't anybody there to receive it." Some GPs are also wary of shared-care prescribing, where a specialist and a GP manage medication together, when they don't know who made a private diagnosis. That can leave you with a diagnosis but stuck between private and NHS care.

What the department says

Alliance MLA Peter McReynolds said adults with ADHD had been "completely forgotten about" by the Department of Health. The department said health trusts "manage referrals within existing resources and demand continues to exceed available capacity". It added that "any future commissioning decisions must be taken in the context of overall affordability".

Across the UK

Where you live changes what ADHD care you can get. According to the BBC, there's a legal right to choose your provider in some areas of England. Scotland has no single commissioned service. In Wales, health boards commission services locally through the Welsh government's Neurodiverse Improvement Programme. Northern Ireland has no formally commissioned, publicly funded adult pathway at all.

Support, not just diagnosis

There's a wider debate going on at the same time. In an interview with The i Paper on 25 October, Prof Peter Fonagy, who led the government's review of mental health, ADHD and autism, said younger people "don't want the diagnosis. They want support". He said young people should get better access to support such as counselling before a diagnosis, and be encouraged to exercise more.

His review suggests social prescribing, such as gardening clubs, art classes and sport, could sit alongside medication. The government's response on 9 October promised "earlier, needs-led support... without long waits for clinical diagnosis". For now these are proposals, and adults in Northern Ireland still have no funded adult service to be referred to.

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(Original source)

Rewritten for ADHDer from reporting by BBC News NI. Originally published 23 Oct 2026.

Read the original at BBC News NI ↗