Imperial College

Health Centre

Imperial College Health Centre will only prescribe ADHD medication for a patient who is under the care of an NHS or UK private consultant psychiatrist, where:

If you are diagnosed and treated under the NHS (or an NHS commissioned service) then we are able to adopt the SCA provided by your NHS consultant psychiatrist, if it meets the expected terms as set out in the NICE Guidelines.

If you are seen and diagnosed under a UK private consultant psychiatrist, then your private psychiatrist will need to agree to, adopt and sign an approved SCA in order for the practice to safely take over the prescribing. Without this, prescribing in general practice will not be possible. Your consultant psychiatrist needs to provide the SCA at the point that prescribing is requested to continue from the Health Centre

Patients who arrive from outside the UK on medication should try to obtain their medication from their specialist abroad. If this is not possible and they are requesting NHS prescriptions, then this will only be considered by one of our GPs if the patient has been well and on a stable dose of medication for at least three months.  Patients will need to provide evidence of this in the form of a copy of their initial ADHD assessment/diagnosis and a review from the specialist clinic/psychiatrist dated within the last 3 months. Even with appropriate documentations, we may not continue to prescribe regimens that do not adhere to NICE guidelines.

When there is instability of symptoms or use of medication for less than three months, the patient will require a referral to an NHS or private ADHD clinic within the UK. Once stabilised on medication, a SCA will need to be in place before the GP can prescribe.

Except in exceptional circumstances our GPs are not able to change either dose or type of ADHD medication without prior consultation with a specialist clinic/psychiatrist. When drug/dose changes are being considered the patient will require a referral to an NHS or private ADHD clinic within the UK. Once stabilised on medication, a new SCA will need to be in place before the GP can provide prescriptions.

We recognise that an increasing number of patients are requesting referral for assessment and are being diagnosed with ADHD, which has resulted in increasing NHS waiting lists. Patients who are unhappy to wait, may wish to consider a private assessment.

The practice does not form an opinion on the use of private services, however it is very important that patients are aware of the potential costs of private services which, aside from initial assessment, investigations and prescriptions, would include ongoing annual reviews and investigations for the duration of their treatment. Please note that we follow published national guidelines to keep our patients safe. Therefore, a SCA will be voided if the patient does not attend a review (to include physical measurements) with us or a psychiatrist every 6 months. In these circumstances we would then be unable to continue to prescribe ADHD medication.