Adults with ADHD are now being issued two-month prescriptions under a change designed to make medication easier to access and reduce pressure on prescribing services.
It comes after Express revealed in July that the Health Department was developing its first dedicated policy for prescribing ADHD medication to adults, with the main change allowing prescriptions to be extended from one month to two months where “clinically appropriate”.
At the time, managing director Andy Weir said the change was intended to make life easier for patients while freeing up clinicians’ time.
He explained: “A new prescribing policy is being developed specifically to extend the length of a prescription for adult ADHD medication. Where clinically appropriate, it will be extended from one month to two months.
“The change aims to make it easier for patients to access and collect their medication. It will also increase capacity within the service as clinicians will spend less time processing routine prescription renewals.”
An email shared with Express by a patient confirms that the longer prescriptions are now being provided.
ADHD Jersey founder Rachel Boss praised the change as a “positive step” which would “make a real difference to people’s daily lives”.
“It shows what happens when prescribers are actually listened to,” she added.
“Clinicians on the ground have been saying for a long time that monthly prescriptions were creating unnecessary pressure for everyone, and it is encouraging to see that feedback acted on.
“For adults with ADHD, the monthly trip to the hospital pharmacy is far more stressful than most people realise. The queues, the harsh lighting, the noise, the waiting.
“For a community with sensory sensitivities and executive function challenges, that environment every single month is genuinely draining, on top of the constant anxiety of running out of medication.”
The move follows years of pressure on Jersey’s ADHD service, with prescription arrangements among the difficulties reported by patients.
When the plans were announced, Mr Weir had previously identified a lack of capacity as the service’s “core issue”, with only one consultant psychiatrist and one junior doctor able to diagnose and prescribe ADHD medication to hundreds of patients.
A global medication shortage had prompted the Health Department to move from six-weekly to monthly prescriptions. Alongside long queues at the hospital pharmacy, this had left some Islanders concerned that their medication would run out.
At the end of April, just under 1,200 adults were waiting for an ADHD assessment in Jersey. Figures reported in July put the median wait for those on the waiting list at 707 days – almost two years.
