Last week Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum attended the Healthwatch Worcestershire Public Board meeting representing Worcestershire parent carers and acting in our capacity as a co-opted Board member for Healthwatch Worcestershire. The morning included updates on services for young people’s emotional health and well-being, stroke, and dementia. We also heard the ICB’s response to the report on the barriers visually impaired and hearing impaired people experience when accessing health services across Worcestershire.
We were excited to hear our first news of the new adult ADHD service that is soon to be commissioned for Worcestershire via a short presentation from Richard Keble (Programme Director for Mental Health Service, LD & Autism) from Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. As many parent carers will be aware, there was until recently a 9 to 10-year wait for an adult #ADHD assessment in Worcestershire with over 3000 patients in the queue and more than 100 new referrals arriving every month.
When Healthwatch Worcestershire attended the Quality & Safety Committee of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, they noticed that the trust had given notice on its contract to provide adult ADHD diagnosis pathway and contract would finish in July 2024. Healthwatch Worcestershire raised it with the commissioners which resulted in them subsequently planning the procurement of a new pathway.
More recently adults waiting for their ADHD assessment received a letter from the NHS trust explaining their position but the letter created more confusion as no explanation of ‘what’s next’ was included. We learnt last week that the ICB has decided to outsource the adult ADHD assessments to Right to Choose (RTC) providers which they will quality assure and accredit. GPs will be able to make referrals to the new RTC providers once they have screened the individual using a new triage tool that is being developed. Upon confirmation of an ADHD diagnosis from the RTC provider, ADHD medication titration will be delivered by the Enhanced Primary Care Hub made up of many of our local GPs.
Although WPCF hugely welcome the overhaul of Worcestershire’s adult ADHD diagnosis service, we were very disappointed to hear that no coproduction has taken place to date; despite the requirement for coproduction being clearly documented in statutory guidance. We know from experience that parent carers identify issues that health professionals don’t anticipate, and our lived experience enables us to design the important nuances that greatly impact patients’ experience.
WPCF has written to Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust to remind them of our availability, capacity and willingness to coproduce new services that will be used by parent carers, their children & young people with SEND aged 0 to 25.
