Eight-year ADHD backlog in many parts of UK, BBC finds

Katie Drinkwater, Rob Reiss, Louise Nichols and Nelly Naylor all wanted to be assessed for ADHD in Sheffield, which has the worst backlogs, according to BBC figures.

They all say they have experienced difficulties since childhood.

Katie says she did well at primary school but “crumpled” at secondary. She was told to stop chatting so much and try harder – but nothing she did seemed to work.

It later took her nine years to complete a part-time degree in health and social care.

“I would just sit there and look out the window, or play with my nails or stare at the walls, get distracted,” Katie says. “[I] just could not do it.”

Rob talks about ADHD as an invisible condition, despite the chaos in his head.

“I come across as quite an ordinary person,” he says, “but the effort that goes into that it is really tiring, it wears me out.”

Louise was diagnosed with school phobia and taken out of mainstream education. In hindsight, she thinks this was linked to ADHD.

Nelly says she went to her GP twice but was told she was suffering from anxiety and depression.

They all agree it’s exhausting to go through life “masking” – camouflaging their symptoms and copying the behaviours of those who don’t have ADHD to try to fit in. It’s something that over the last few years, they all realised they couldn’t carry on doing.

Katie was worried she was going to fail her degree. Rob struggled when he returned to the office as a project manager after lockdown. When Louise became a parent, she felt she wasn’t coping. Nelly felt like she was going to lose her partner and her wedding photography business.

Their GPs agreed to refer each of them for ADHD assessments – but the next step has not been straightforward for any of them.