Hansard

I congratulate Daniel Johnson on securing today’s debate and pay tribute to him for his work speaking out about his experience of ADHD and raising awareness of these issues. It is important that we have such debates in Parliament and, when members bring their personal interest and experience, it makes for excellent debates.

I completely agree with Daniel Johnson that we need to see the media, especially documentary programmes, provide a balanced and informed portrayal of ADHD and how it is treated. Today’s debate is therefore timely and extremely important.

As Emma Harper has done, I thank the Scottish ADHD Coalition for its useful briefing ahead of the debate, and I commend the coalition for all that it does on behalf of children and families across Scotland. The coalition’s establishment in 2017, which brought together all the voluntary organisations that provide support to families, was a very positive step forward.

ADHD is a significant health issue for our society. As has been said, it is estimated that 5 per cent of children have ADHD and that approximately 1.5 per cent have a severe ADHD disorder. As has been mentioned, a large number of adults have never received any diagnosis.

I know that Daniel Johnson was concerned about some of the comments that I made last year in relation to the sharp increase in drugs such as Ritalin being prescribed to children with ADHD. I want to make it very clear, as we have discussed in the past, that I recognise that such medication can make a huge difference to many children and, indeed, adults, and that that is a positive thing that we should all support.

Absolutely no one should feel in any way that there is anything wrong with taking such medication, any more than they would feel about taking medication for a physical illness. However, each individual is different and medication alone will often not be the answer for every single case. Among the many concerns that I wanted to highlight was the suggestion that, in many cases, medication was all that was being offered, and other treatments and support systems such as parental training, school interventions, counselling and psychological support were simply not being made available to families across Scotland. That continues to be the case.

SIGN makes it clear that for mild symptoms of ADHD, clinicians should consider behavioural approaches in the first instance. Concern about a medication-only approach is a key finding from the “Attending to Parents” report, which was published by the Scottish ADHD Coalition. The report also noted that parents who refuse medication for their children are often discharged from services in Scotland, which all of us, I think, will find unacceptable and has to change. We also need to ensure that, for each patient and individual, the continuing benefit from and need for medication is assessed at least once a year, as SIGN recommends.

The coalition’s report also highlights concern about excessively long child and adolescent mental health services waiting times, which all of us in the chamber have raised and expressed concern about. It is a continuing source of anguish for many people in my region of Lothian and across Scotland. The report also calls for teachers to receive much greater training on ADHD, and I support that because such training is vital.

I have recently received a copy of a letter from my Perth and Kinross Council colleague Chris Ahern, who has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport about ADHD. Councillor Ahern makes a number of important points and emphasises that, in Scotland, there is a lack of reliable datasets on ADHD and its impact in schools, the workplace and—as Daniel Johnson highlighted—in prisons. That was one part of the Health and Sport Committee’s work that we did not really touch on but, when we looked at prisoner health, we highlighted the opportunities. We need to continue to look at prisoners’ mental health, head trauma and prisoner populations not having access to any assessment of such aspects of their health, which were areas that were highlighted in the committee’s work.

Councillor Ahern believes that the Scottish Government should address the issue and consider setting up a cross-party working group to look at the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Perhaps the minister can respond to those points in her closing speech. It might be something that members across the chamber want to take forward.

I again welcome the debate and the way in which Daniel Johnson brought it forward. In light of the new guidelines from NICE and those from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, I am sympathetic to the view that our SIGN guidelines should be updated, to ensure that people in Scotland of all ages who have ADHD, and their families, know what type and level of care they should receive.