Every figure carries its source, measurement period, publication date and jurisdiction. Historical inquiry evidence is labelled as such.
Inquiry, not a wait-time surveyHistorical inquiry evidence
700
submissions to the 2023 Senate ADHD inquiry
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee also heard 79 witnesses over three public hearings. This is the scale of lived and professional evidence tabled, not a prevalence estimate.
- Measurement period
- Inquiry conducted 2023; evidence received during the inquiry
- Publication date
- 6 November 2023
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Historical inquiry findings. Describes barriers reported in 2023. Not a current waiting-time figure.
Historical inquiry evidenceHistorical inquiry evidence
6–18 months
typical wait for an initial ADHD appointment, as reported to the 2023 Senate inquiry
The committee reported limited availability and long waits, a thin public system especially for adults, and insufficient services in rural, regional and remote areas. Some evidence described waits of more than two years. Treat as 2023 inquiry evidence, not a 2026 measurement.
- Measurement period
- Evidence given to the 2023 inquiry
- Publication date
- 6 November 2023
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Do not read this as the current national wait. Later secret-shopper measurement (May–August 2024) found a different distribution, still with long tails.
National secret-shopper studyMeasured May–August 2024
736
clinicians contacted about an ADHD assessment
Researchers posed as potential consumers seeking an ADHD assessment for themselves and/or a child. This is a measurement of access, not of how many people have ADHD.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Study published February 2026; the telephones were called in 2024. Access can have moved since.
Clinician availabilityMeasured May–August 2024
49.8%
of responding clinicians were available to book an ADHD assessment
Fifty-nine percent of contacted clinicians responded at all. Of those who responded, about half could take a booking. Unavailability is part of the queue, not a footnote to it.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Response and availability are not the same as quality of assessment.
Mean wait · psychologistsMeasured May–August 2024
7 weeks
average wait for an ADHD assessment with a psychologist
Median 3 weeks (IQR 7). Mean is pulled by a long tail. A shorter average than the 2023 inquiry's 6–18 month figure does not mean the problem is solved — psychiatrists and paediatricians were slower, and maxima ran from many months to two years.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Averages hide people at the far end of the distribution.
Mean wait · psychiatristsMeasured May–August 2024
16 weeks
average wait for an ADHD assessment with a psychiatrist
Median 15 weeks (IQR 16). In most Australian jurisdictions, stimulant prescribing for ADHD is still commonly tied to psychiatrists and paediatricians. Psychologist availability does not automatically unlock treatment. Western Australia is now a partial exception: specially trained GPs can assess, diagnose and prescribe for suitable patients aged 10 and over.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Workforce mix is a systems constraint, not a personal failure to ‘just see a GP’. Who that GP is allowed to be now depends on the jurisdiction.
Mean wait · paediatriciansMeasured May–August 2024
31 weeks
average wait for an ADHD assessment with a paediatrician
Median 26 weeks (IQR 31). Children's mean wait in this study was longer than adults'. Some families waited up to two years.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Child pathways and adult pathways are not interchangeable queues.
Estimated total assessment costMeasured May–August 2024
$1,622
average total ADHD assessment cost with a psychologist
Mean initial session $266 (median $250). Psychiatrists charged more for the first appointment (mean $748) but had a lower estimated total (mean $1,163), likely because psychologists more often used several sessions. Paediatrician totals were lower again (mean $598). Figures are fees quoted, before rebates.
- Measurement period
- May–August 2024
- Publication date
- 25 February 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Quoted fees are not the same as out-of-pocket after Medicare. They are also not a cap — some quoted totals approached several thousand dollars.
What people told the SenateHistorical inquiry evidence
46%
of analysed submissions cited high costs; 46% cited long waits
Hudson and colleagues thematically analysed 480 eligible Senate inquiry submissions. Lack of specialised care (39%), diagnostic delays (36%) and gender bias (27%) were also prominent. This is what people wrote, not a random sample of all Australians with ADHD.
- Measurement period
- Submissions to the 2023 Senate inquiry
- Publication date
- 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Lived-experience submissions over-represent people who could write one. The themes are still a record of the system they met.
Service demand, not prevalenceAdministrative series
2 → 22
PBS ADHD patients per 1,000 population, 2004–05 to 2023–24
AIHW reports that the population rate of people dispensed ADHD medicine under the PBS rose from 2 per 1,000 in 2004–05 to 22 per 1,000 in 2023–24, with much of the increase after 2018–19. This is dispensing. It is not a census of how many people have ADHD.
- Measurement period
- 2004–05 to 2023–24
- Publication date
- 20 May 2025
- Jurisdiction
- Australia
Caveat: Rising dispensing is evidence of rising recognised, treated demand. It is not, by itself, evidence that underlying prevalence has multiplied by eleven.
Living pathway changeCurrent jurisdictional pathway
10+
age from which specially trained GPs in Western Australia can assess, diagnose and treat ADHD under the new GP program
WA Health last reviewed this program page on 31 August 2026. Appropriately trained GPs can assess, diagnose and prescribe stimulant medicines for suitable patients aged 10 years and older, within a structured clinical governance framework developed with RACGP and AADPA. Complex presentations continue to require specialist referral. This is a jurisdictional pathway change, not a national one. It does not erase waits, costs, or fragmentation elsewhere.
- Measurement period
- Program page last reviewed 31 August 2026
- Publication date
- 31 August 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Western Australia
Caveat: Updated on this site 2 September 2026, after the pathway changed while the page was being built. Current evidence, not archival knowledge.
