Welcome to the RANZCP ADHD Network Newsletter

Dear  ,

I hope this edition of the newsletter finds you in good health and spirits.

The aim of the ADHD Network Committee is to promote the recognition of ADHD amongst College Members and promote excellence in the assessment, diagnosis and management of ADHD throughout the lifecycle. Our network has a large membership of approximately 2,419 College members.

Prof Sarah Romans (NZ Representative) and David Chapman (NT Representative) have decided to step down from the ADHD Network Committee. The Committee would like to thank both Sarah and David, the founding committee members, for their outstanding contributions to the committee activities, education and training programs and advocacy in policy matters.

Education and training

The ADHD Network Grand Round Case Presentation, which occurs on the first Wednesday of the month at 12 pm AEST/AEDT via Teams, is now attracting around 90-100 attendees regularly. We have been fortunate to have excellent speakers covering a range of different topics.

My thanks go out to our presenters and discussants for their ongoing support.  Members who are interested in participating in the Grand Rounds can directly contact me or the jurisdictional members. 

For those unable to attend, the case presentation recordings are uploaded to the College website and accessible via the ADHD Network homepage.

Recent Grand Rounds presentations:

• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and ADHD (4 February 2026) - Dr Shaun Ziegenfusz
• ADHD diagnostic challenges and differentials that will look like ADHD (3 December 2025) - Prof Nagesh Pai
• GP-Psychiatrist co-management of ADHD and comorbidities (5 November 2025) - Dr Dianne Grocott

The RANZCP Foundation is facilitating a masterclass in ADHD on 21 March 2026 between 9 am - 12 pm. Presenters are Prof David Coghill, Dr Belinda Oddy and Professor Shuichi Suetani.

ADHD clinicians- Have your say in improving clinical care

ADHD clinicians- Have your say in improving clinical care

Researchers from the University of Melbourne are running two studies to understand ADHD clinical care in Australia.

Study 1 is an online survey about health professionals’ experiences of ADHD identification, diagnosis, and treatment in Australia. We are looking for responses from both ADHD specialists and general health professionals.

Study 3 involves online focus groups to understand priorities for improving ADHD clinical care.

You can participate if:

• You are a psychologist, paediatrician, or psychiatrist in Australia
• You have 5+ years’ experience in both ADHD assessment and management/support
• Working with ADHD clients is a major part of your clinical practice

These studies are run by the University of Melbourne with no affiliation with the College. Please contact: The ABCs of ADHD Clinical Care Team, abc-adhd@unimelb.edu.au or 03 9345 4891 for more information.

ADHD care reform

There have been strong political interests to initiate ADHD care reforms across Australia and New Zealand. Keeping in line with this, the Victorian Government recently made two announcements.

- Announcement on 3 Feb 2026: GPs to undertake training to safely diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for ADHD in both adults and children 6 years and over. A $750,000 investment will deliver accredited training for an initial 150 GPs by September.

- Announcement on 4 Feb 2026: Providing one-off ADHD medication refill covering for 30 days and up to six months through Virtual ED. 

In Victoria, I have been part of the committee that includes RANZCP VIC Branch and RACGP in developing processes to allow safe practice of ADHD care by GPs. I will update the members about the developments in the future newsletters.

Joint conference

The ADHD Network Committee will, once again, be joining with the Faculty of Adult Psychiatry and the Section of Private Practice for a joint conference to be held in Christchurch, NZ in November 2026.

Research: Some recent publications from Australia and New Zealand

Dao Le et al. The long-term impact of ADHD on children and adolescents’ health-related quality of life: results from a longitudinal population-based Australian study. J Atten Disord. 2025. Dec;29(14):1278-1289. doi: 10.1177/10870547251353366 

This study was based on the data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, age 4-17 (N = 4,194). If found that children with ADHD symptoms had poor quality of life. Female gender, presence of autism or other medical conditions, on ADHD medication or mental health problems in care givers was associated with poorer quality of life.

Bradlow et al. Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Australia: how its current commercial model for diagnosis and treatment is encouraging misdiagnosis: Med J Aust. 2025. Sep 10;223(8):384–386. doi: 10.5694/mja2.70049

This article focuses on how high fees for ADHD assessment could increase the risk of overdiagnosis and could pose an ethical challenge. Solutions proposed are ADHD clinics in public sector, public ADHD clinics to reach out to marginalized populations, greater oversight of private clinics to reduce the risk of overdiagnosis, early diagnosis and intervention initiatives and comprehensive training for GPs to reduce overdiagnosis.

Thompson et al. Exposures to attention deficient hyperactivity disorder medications reported to the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre (2014–2023): A retrospective study. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2025;60(2):136-147. doi:10.1177/00048674251384053

There were 17,299 exposures of ADHD medications reported to New South Wales Poisons Information Centre during this period. Exposure rates increased by 16.5% (95% confidence interval: 15-18%) annually.

Groups with some of the greatest annual increases were female adolescents 20.4% and children 18.5%. Over half of exposures (9657) were referred into hospital or were in hospital at the time of the call to New South Wales Poisons Information Centre.

Sixty percent (10,427) of exposures were unintentional. There was a strong positive correlation between exposures and number of prescriptions.

New Zealand Clinical Principles Framework for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 2025.

Membership

The ADHD Network has been growing steadily with a large membership base and the committee is thankful to the members’ participation the monthly Grand Rounds. The committee welcomes ideas and suggestions from the wider membership to promote the study, research and advancement of the science of practice of psychiatry in the field of ADHD.  Should you wish to raise anything or participate in the Grand Rounds, please contact me or contact any of the committee members.

• Dr Karuppiah Jagadheesan (Chair)
• Dr Angelene Chester (SYMH Representative)
• Dr Rosie Edwards (NZ Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Caroline Flynn (ACT Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Gordana Jovanova (NSW Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Ashar Khan (QLD Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Edward Ko Ko Aung (SA Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Elizabeth Lun (Trainee Representative)
• Dr Teslin Mathew (VIC Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Roger Paterson (WA Jurisdictional Member)
• Dr Claire Gaskin (Co-opted Member)
• Dr Petre Heffernan (Co-opted Member)

On behalf of the Committee, I would like to thank you for your continuing support of our vital work.

Best wishes,

Dr Karuppiah Jagadheesan
Chair, ADHD Network Committee