If you are waiting for an ADHD assessment for your child, you are far from alone.
Official government figures show just how much demand has grown. In April 2019, around 21,000 children and young people in England were waiting for an ADHD assessment. By December 2025, that figure had risen to around 270,000.
That is a huge increase in just a few years.
The NHS itself warns parents that ADHD assessment waiting times can vary considerably and that some children may wait several months or even years.
Why are the waiting lists so long?
There is not one simple reason.
One major reason is that more families are asking for ADHD assessments. Awareness of ADHD has improved, and behaviours that may once have been dismissed as being lazy, naughty or badly behaved are increasingly being recognised as possible signs that a child needs support.
There is also better awareness of ADHD in girls and young women, whose difficulties may previously have been overlooked. Government research says the increase in demand has been particularly noticeable among adolescent and young adult females.
But increasing awareness is only part of the problem.
NHS England says long waits for community services are being affected by:
- increasing demand
- shortages in the workforce
- shortages of staff with the right specialist skills
- problems with commissioning and contracts
- differences in how local care pathways operate
NHS England has said that the rise in very long waits for children's community services has been driven largely by increasing demand for neurodevelopmental assessments, which include ADHD assessments.
Why does an ADHD assessment take more than one appointment?
ADHD cannot be diagnosed from a simple checklist or blood test.
A specialist needs to build a much bigger picture of the child.
NICE guidance says an ADHD assessment should include information about the child's development, their behaviour and symptoms in different parts of everyday life, and reports or observations from other people. ADHD difficulties also need to be considered across more than one important setting, such as home and school.
That is why parents may be asked questions such as:
When did you first notice the difficulties?
What happens at home?
What has school noticed?
How is it affecting learning, friendships or family life?
What support has already been tried?
The specialist may also contact your child's teacher or SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) for information about how your child is doing at school.
Can keeping records help?
Yes — but it is important to be realistic about what it can and cannot do.
Keeping good records will not move your child to the front of an NHS waiting list, and it cannot guarantee a quicker diagnosis.
However, being organised may help make the referral and assessment process more efficient once you are speaking with your GP, SENCO or assessment team.
Instead of trying to remember everything during an appointment, you can arrive with information already organised.
For example, you might have:
- examples of behaviours you have noticed
- dates and patterns
- information from home and school
- details of how difficulties affect everyday life
- strategies that have already been tried
- questions you want to ask
- a short summary for the professional you are meeting
Because NICE guidance specifically requires professionals to consider developmental history, everyday impact, different settings and observer reports, having this information available can potentially help reduce avoidable back-and-forth or delays caused by missing information.
This Is Where NeuroInsight Health Can Help
You cannot control the national ADHD waiting list.
But you can control how prepared you are.
The NeuroInsight Health ADHD Parent Evidence Packs help parents:
Track patterns → Record home and school evidence → Prepare for SENCO meetings → Prepare for GP appointments → Create clear summaries to share with professionals.
Our aim is simple: to help parents spend the waiting period gathering useful information and preparing for the next step, rather than feeling they can do nothing.
NeuroInsight Health resources do not diagnose ADHD, guarantee a referral or shorten NHS waiting lists. They are designed to help families organise information and prepare for conversations with education and healthcare professionals.