Evidence / 2023
Assessment and support services for people with ADHD
Senate Community Affairs References Committee (2023). Parliament of Australia.
- Population
- People seeking ADHD assessment and support in Australia; 700 submissions and 79 witnesses
- Sample
- Parliamentary inquiry (700 submissions; 79 witnesses; three public hearings)
- Condition
- ADHD; access to assessment, diagnosis and support
- Medication focus
- Not a treatment trial
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
- Last reviewed
- 1 September 2026
- Measurement period
- Inquiry conducted 2023; report published 6 November 2023
Plain-language finding
The committee found barriers including limited availability and long waits for assessment and treatment, lack of public services especially for adults, insufficient rural and regional services, high out-of-pocket costs, and variable practitioner training. Wait times of 6–18 months for an initial appointment were commonly reported in evidence, with some accounts of waits exceeding two years. These figures are inquiry evidence from 2023, not a current national measurement.
Important limitation
A parliamentary inquiry is not a random sample, not a wait-time audit, and not a prevalence study. Evidence is mixed in method and date. Do not treat 2023 testimony as 2026 waiting times.
Why we cite this
The principal Australian parliamentary record of ADHD access barriers. Cited as historical systems evidence, dated, and not as a current wait-time statistic.
adhd · australia · access · workforce · cost · service-design · training · late-diagnosis
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