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The availability of ADHD medication is improving locally after year-long global shortages, which had led some islanders to turn to the dark web to buy drugs in desperation.
Senior pharmacists shared the update during a hearing with the Health and Social Services Scrutiny Panel, a panel of politicians who have been investigating the challenges facing islanders seeking access to ADHD treatment.
Their review of the way that ADHD medication is currently prescribed to adults was prompted by concerns that limited staffing within the service and increased demand were putting the current system under strain.
In Jersey, there is only one consultant psychiatrist and one junior doctor available to prescribe medication to approximately 300 patients. And, according to figures provided to the panel yesterday, there are 873 adults waiting to be diagnosed and with new referrals facing a 3.5-year wait.
Earlier this year, Express was told that some patients had felt forced to turn to illegal drugs such as cannabis – or medication bought on the dark web – to ease their symptoms as years-long wait times for diagnosis, global shortages and long queues at the hospital pharmacy made it increasingly difficult for many to access treatment.
In February, it emerged that global shortages of ADHD drugs forced the Health Department to issue monthly rather than six-weekly prescriptions.
Pictured: Global shortages of ADHD drugs forced the Health Department to issue monthly rather than six-weekly prescriptions earlier this year.
But, more concerningly for some, the Department also explained that initiating new treatment with certain medications would not be possible until such shortages were resolved.
However, Senior Pharmacist Paul Mcmanus told the panel earlier this week that, although a “handful of drugs” still face shortages “most medicines for ADHD are now back in adequate supply."
He explained that Jersey’s pharmacies rely on UK wholesalers, meaning they are affected by the same supply chain problems experienced in the UK.
Kevin Smith, Acting Director of Pharmacy Services, added: "For a number of the drugs used for ADHD, the situation has improved to the point where people can now start initiating new patients on them."
“But there's still a range of products where that's not the case, where the shortage is so severe that we are struggling to maintain the treatment of people already on already prescribed those medications.”
“When the issue first arose last year, it was expected to be resolved within a couple of months, but it has continually been pushed back,” he added.
Ulrich Sedgwick-Müller, who is Jersey’s consultant ADHD psychiatrist, also said that improvements had been seen since shortages began last September while giving an update on the situation last week at Jersey's first-ever ADHD conference.
The conference also heard from Dr Heidi Philips, a Welsh GP who founded the British Association for Neurodiversity, who highlighted how Jersey may benefit from the creation of a holistic neurodiversity "hub" to allow professionals to more easily identify overlapping conditions.
Sam*, an islander in their 20s who did not receive an ADHD and autism diagnosis until they were at university, told Express earlier this week that such a hub would have been "hugely beneficial".
They explained: "I have loads of other medical conditions that are common in neurodiverse people, so having a hub like this in place when I was younger would probably have helped me get autism and ADHD assessments much sooner."
*Name changed to protect anonymity.
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