Western Australia’s Minister for Health has confirmed that training for GPs to be able to provide increased support to those with ADHD is currently being formulated.
This is the next step in delivering the government’s commitment to give GPs the ability to diagnose ADHD and treat patients with the neurodevelopmental condition.
Meredith Hammat confirmed to Medical Forum that the Department of Health was working with the RACGP on the roll out a GP ADHD training certification program.
While a date has not been announced for the training to begin, Ms Hammat said it would be rolled out “as soon as possible”.
“We’re proud of our commitment to allow families to access ADHD care without needing to go to a psychiatrist or paediatrician, especially at a time when we’re working to ease the demands on our Child Development Services waitlists,” she said.
The State Government committed to expand GP’s scope of practice to provide specialist support, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD ahead of the State election in March.
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In May, New South Wales announced it would also implement reforms to allow GPs to provide ongoing prescriptions for children with ADHD, a change it expects will come into place by early 2026.
In Queensland, GPs can already prescribe certain ADHD medications for children without a prescribing approval.
Dr Tim Leahy, a GP at Third Avenue Surgery, is part of the RACGP WA ADHD working group and the ADHD WA professional advisory body.
The RACGP has worked in partnership with ADHD WA on the initial proposal for GP training.
Dr Leahy said not all GPs would do the training, but for those who want to diagnose and initiate treatment of ADHD he did expect the training to be compulsory.
“I think there’ll likely be waves of training – the initial pilot with smaller numbers and then opening up to larger numbers,” he told Medical Forum.
Dr Leahy said he understood the program would involve about 13 hours of online training in addition to case conferencing and small group learning.
Once doctors complete the training, they would be able to provide assessment and treatment of those aged 10 years and above, including adults.
Dr Leahy said he expected the general public to welcome the ability to see certain GPs to assess and treat ADHD.
“There’s just ongoing demand, long wait times, frustrations at being referred to different specialists and not getting in,” he said.
“I think every GP at the moment would be familiar with needing to do referral after referral and getting messages back from patients saying ‘they’re full I can’t get in for five months, have you got somebody else you can refer to?’”
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In addition to undertaking the training, Dr Leahy said it was important for all GPs to have a good understanding of neurodivergence, including ADHD.
“The reality is that GPs are the gateway to the Australian healthcare system, and we play a vital role in making care affordable and accessible,” Dr Leahy said.
“Every doctor throughout their professional career needs to read the sign of the times, and one of the clear shifts in the last five to 10 years is a growing awareness of people young and old living with neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD, autism, dyslexia.
“Most of us would say that we didn’t get enough training in our undergraduate and postgraduate years.
“Now there are new guidelines and new regulations, so it’s appropriate that GPs embrace the opportunities, embrace the requests and the demands of their patients, and offer a better service than we did in the past.”
He encouraged GPs, whether they were considering taking part in the ADHD training certification program or not, to make the most of upskilling opportunities available online from the RACGP, which include a 1.5-hour module on identifying and managing ADHD and a 2-hour module on pharmacological management of ADHD module.
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