Note: Kaipara Medical Centre is not currently offering Adult ADHD assessments or prescriptions. This article explains recent national changes and our plans to potentially offer this service later in 2026.
From 1 February 2026, General Practitioners and Nurse Practitioners will be allowed to make a formal diagnosis of Adult ADHD and initiate stimulant treatment. In many ways we welcome this change at Kaipara Medical Centre with the hope that it will make pursuing a diagnosis for patients both quicker and cheaper.
Unfortunately, nothing around the challenges and processes of diagnosis have changed. The new guidelines state that a practitioner who is “appropriately trained” can make the diagnosis, but no clarification on what that training might involve has occurred. Reducing the cost of diagnosis has also not been addressed. Assessments will not take any less time when done by a GP or Nurse Practitioner than they would with a psychiatrist, and no extra funding has been made available by the government to pay for the 1.5 to 2 hours needed to make an informed diagnosis and appropriately counsel patients.
Many practices are choosing to decline to do any ADHD assessments with the general feeling being “we are not trained in this area” and “we do not have enough appointment capacity to add this work”. At Kaipara Medical Centre we are keen to support our patients in making a formal diagnosis of ADHD but believe this must be done with thorough assessment and appropriate patient support. At present, no clinicians at Kaipara Medical are offering formal assessments or initiating stimulant medication, however, we are undertaking further training to upskill in this area.
When we are ready to provide this service it will require an initial assessment with a Nurse to complete questionnaires, advise on information required and explore understanding and beliefs around ADHD. It will then progress to a 30-minute interview with a practitioner followed by a further 30-minute appointment to debrief the findings and discuss treatment options. Ongoing medication adjustments would be provided with the practitioner as required and further counseling sessions with the nurse.
As you can see this is not going to be a standard 15-minute appointment and as such will not be able to be charged at our standard fees. We are working to provide a clearer picture on costs and will update this information on our website when we can.
We are hoping to be able to start providing this service from April 2026 and will be taking expressions of interest from Monday 2 March 2026. This is not a waitlist and does not involve assessment but helps us understand patient demand while we finalise the service.
This timeline will allow us to see how the dust settles from this change and maintain the excellent care we want for our patients. In the meantime, private referrals remain an option as well as diagnosis through a trained private psychologist, followed by medication initiation by your GP.
Please call to speak to our nurse for any additional general information, or book in for a routine appointment with your regular GP or Nurse Practitioner to discuss in more detail. Please note, this will not begin the assessment process.
