What the ADHD Taskforce recommended

NHS England set up an independent taskforce, which reported in two parts: findings in June 2025 and recommendations in November 2025. Here is what each part says to someone waiting.

The short version

It found there are no national reports on waiting times for adults.
It described waits increasing to over four years for children and over eight years for adults.
It concluded that waiting times for NHS ADHD services have escalated and are unacceptably long.
It said providers and integrated care boards must ensure support for those waiting and provide clear signposting.
Part 2, the final report, was published on 6 November 2025 and recommends the same waiting time standards for ADHD as for other conditions. It is a recommendation, not a standard that now exists.

NHS England commissioned an independent taskforce to look at ADHD services. It reported twice: part 1 in June 2025, which set out the findings, and part 2 on 6 November 2025, which is the final report and sets out the recommendations. Most coverage of it reached for the wait figures in part 1. Four things there matter to a person sitting on a list, and one of them is a gap rather than a finding.

1. The data gap

There are no national reports on waiting times for adults. That single sentence disposes of most confident claims about average waits, and it is the reason this site quotes ranges with their hedges attached rather than an average.

2. The scale of the waits

Waiting times for NHS services are increasing, up to 4+ years for children, up to 8+ years for adults, and demand outstrips the capacity of services. In a national survey of commissioners, primary care clinicians and people with lived experience, 40% reported waiting times of 2 years or more. Waiting lists are reported to have increased to 10-15 years in some areas of the UK.

The Taskforce's own numbered conclusion is blunter than any of those: waiting times for NHS ADHD services have escalated and are unacceptably long.

3. Support while waiting is an expectation, not an optional extra

Under improving support to those on waiting lists, the report states that health care providers and integrated care boards must ensure support for those waiting and provide clear signposting to local organisations that can provide information and support.

That is the sentence to quote when asking your practice or commissioner what exists locally.

4. Prioritising a list is possible and risky

The Taskforce asks providers and integrated care boards to consider screening of wait lists to identify the most severe ADHD, co-morbidities and risks for prioritisation, using evidence-based clinical screening tools, which it distinguishes from profiling tools, but not on their own, as such tools can over and under-identify ADHD.

NHS England's own advice to systems carries a matching caution, saying that forms of stratification or clinical triage that are untested or lack an evidence base are likely to present risks, including potential harm to patients. Read together, they describe an idea that is permitted and heavily qualified rather than a route a patient can request.

5. Part 2, the final report, and what it recommends

Part 2 was published on 6 November 2025. NHS England's ADHD programme page describes it as building on the interim report by describing how the recommendations to transform ADHD services can be implemented, which makes part 1 the interim document rather than the Taskforce's last word.

Three of its recommendations bear on this pathway. It says NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care need to ensure equity by having the same waiting time standards for ADHD as for other health conditions, and monitor data on ADHD wait times, rates of ADHD diagnosis and treatment. It says the Care Quality Commission should have oversight of all ADHD service providers. And it says there is a need for nationally agreed minimum contracting standards that all commissioners must follow when commissioning both NHS and independent sector organisations to ensure no service gaps, including when patient choice is applied.

It is also candid about shared care, saying shared care protocols for ADHD have been available for many years but these have become more problematic in recent years with many arrangements no longer in place. That sentence sits behind the advice on this site about asking your practice early.

On waiting times, part 2 repeats the sentence from part 1 that there are no national reports on waiting times for adults. It sits inside an annex the report itself heads as an evidence summary updated June 2025, so it is a June 2025 finding carried forward rather than a fresh November one. The useful point for a reader is that the Taskforce did not replace it.

What neither part gives you

They are reports, not entitlements. Nothing in either creates a right to be seen by a date, and nothing in either changes the duty in regulation 39. Part 2's waiting time recommendation is addressed to NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care; until they act on it, there is no ADHD waiting time standard to hold anyone to. The practical value of both to a patient is as a source of accurate numbers and as a document to point to when asking what local support exists.

Questions people ask about this

What did the NHS England ADHD taskforce find?

Part 1 of its report records that there are no national reports on waiting times for adults, that waits are increasing to over four years for children and over eight years for adults, that 40% of respondents to a national survey reported waits of two years or more, and that waiting times for NHS ADHD services have escalated and are unacceptably long. It also says providers and integrated care boards must ensure support for those waiting.

Has the ADHD Taskforce published its final report?

Yes. Part 2 was published on 6 November 2025 and is the final report. NHS England's ADHD programme page describes it as building on the interim report by describing how the recommendations to transform ADHD services can be implemented, which means part 1 of June 2025 was the interim document. Part 2 recommends the same waiting time standards for ADHD as for other health conditions, and says the Care Quality Commission should have oversight of all ADHD service providers.

Does the taskforce report change my rights?

No. Both parts are reports to NHS England, not legislation. The duty to offer a choice of provider still comes from regulation 39 of the Standing Rules Regulations 2012, and nothing in either part creates an entitlement to be assessed by a particular date. Part 2's recommendation of a waiting time standard is addressed to NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, so it is a proposal rather than a standard you can currently rely on.