Evidence / 2026
Unmet Needs and Service Priorities for ADHD in Australia: A Thematic Analysis of Senate Inquiry Submissions
Hudson B, et al. (2026). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
- Population
- People with lived experience of ADHD who made written submissions to the 2023 Australian Senate inquiry
- Sample
- 480 eligible submissions
- Condition
- ADHD; unmet need and service priorities
- Medication focus
- Not a treatment trial
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
- Last reviewed
- 1 September 2026
- Measurement period
- Submissions to the 2023 Senate inquiry
- PMID
- 41595917
Plain-language finding
Thematic analysis of 480 eligible Senate inquiry submissions found high costs and long wait times for assessment and treatment each cited by 46% of submissions, lack of specialised care by 39%, diagnostic delays by 36%, and gender bias by 27%.
Important limitation
Submissions are not a probability sample. People who write to a Senate inquiry differ from people who do not. Percentages describe the corpus of submissions, not the Australian ADHD population.
Why we cite this
A systematic reading of what people told the Senate about cost, waits, specialised care and delay.
adhd · australia · access · cost · lived-experience · stigma · service-design
Research demonstrates a statistical relationship. Association is not causation. Timing, dose, confounding and missing data still matter.
Claims this source supports
In Australia, ADHD assessment is constrained by clinician availability, waiting time, out-of-pocket cost, a thin public adult pathway, and regional gaps. Recognition is growing faster than the systems built to assess it.
Last reviewed 2 September 2026