Data submissions from February 2025 onwards
Data submissions from February 2025 onwards are not directly comparable to previous months due to new submissions from independent providers that have resulted in an increase in the number of open referrals.
4 December 2025 13:00 PM
OpenSAFELY analysis: Summary
Summary
Despite suggestions that ADHD diagnoses and medication prescribing have been rising over recent years, there has been little comprehensive research into how the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent pressures on NHS services impacted diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
This publication examines three key areas of ADHD diagnosis and care from 2016/17 to 2024/5:
- recorded prevalence of ADHD
- prevalence of patients with ADHD who are prescribed licensed ADHD medication
- the average time from receiving a diagnosis of ADHD to being prescribed ADHD medication.
Analysis was carried out on data from GP practices that use The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) system via the OpenSAFELY platform which accounts for around 44% of registered patients in England.
Key Facts
ADHD prevalence
- 1.6% of males and 0.9% of females had a recorded ADHD diagnosis in 2024/25. This is an increase from 0.7% of males and 0.2% of females in 2016/17.
- NICE estimates 3-4% of adults and 5% of children have ADHD in the UK.
ADHD medication prescribing
- In 2024/25, 55.9% of males and 45.7% of females with an ADHD diagnosis had ADHD medication prescribed to them since their diagnosis, a decrease from 57.3% for males and 50.6% of females in 2016/17.
ADHD medication prescribing within the previous 6 months
- 27.2% of males and 29.2% of females with a recorded ADHD diagnosis were prescribed ADHD medication in the 6 months prior to March 2025. This is a decrease from 27.5% of males but an increase from 28.6% of females prescribed ADHD medication in the 6 months prior March 2017. National medication shortages from autumn 2023 should be considered when interpreting these figures.
Time between diagnosis and medication prescribing
- Patients aged 10 to 17 had the longest median time between receiving an ADHD diagnosis and being prescribed ADHD medication - 36 weeks in 2024/25 compared to 18 weeks in 2016/17.
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Last edited: 4 December 2025 1:13 pm