ADHD: private clinics exposed for misdiagnosing patients

A new investigation conducted by the BBC has discovered the naked truth about three private clinics who have wrongly diagnosed people with ADHD following an unreliable online assessment.  

Yesterday, Harley Psychiatrists, ADHD Direct and ADHD 360 were named as misdiagnosing BBC reporter Rory Carson with the neurodevelopment disorder – a recognised medical condition that affects behaviour and can be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010.

Despite claiming they conduct thorough assessments, Rory discovered the three clinics carried out limited mental health assessments of patients, powerful drugs were prescribed for long-term use, without advice on possible serious side effects or proper consideration of patients’ medical history, patients posting negative reviews were threatened with legal action and the NHS is paying for thousands of patients to go to private clinics for assessments.

After Rory was told he had ADHD from all three private institutions, a more in-depth and in-person NHS assessment showed he did not have the condition.

To start with, Rory paid over £600 for his online assessment at Harley Psychiatrists. There are 18 recognised symptoms for ADHD and Rory was ruled to have had 15 of them – symptoms include carelessness and lack of attention to detail, poor organisational skills, the inability to focus to prioritise and fidgeting – after a 45-minute video call with a psychologist.

However, Dr Mike Smith, an NHS Consultant Psychiatrist, concluded that Rory did not have ADHD after asking him and his family to fill out a questionnaire about Rory’s habits and childhood history ahead of the appointment that lasted more than three hours. It involved a full psychiatric assessment which followed the guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

NICE guidelines clearly state that someone should only receive an ADHD diagnosis if their symptoms severely impact their life.

Additionally, Rory also had an assessment with ADHD direct, which is based in Glasgow. He was examined by a nurse that was new to the clinic and they were being observed by another nurse. However, NICE guidelines state assessments must be conducted by a psychiatrist or a suitably qualified clinician.

The assessment last an hour and 40 minutes and cost over £1,000. The nurses asked more questions than Harley Psychiatrists about Rory’s medical history and he and his family were asked to fill out a questionnaire, but he said it felt more like a ‘tick-box exercise’.

Again, Rory was misdiagnosed at a follow-up appointment and offered a prescription for stimulants.

After discovering that Rory was an undercover journalist, lawyers for ADHD Direct claimed there would have been more checks before he received the drugs.

‘ADHD is under-identified, underdiagnosed and under-treated,’ the lawyers told the BBC stating that the clinic has ‘no incentive[…] to over diagnose’ and that an audit had found ‘10% of the patients seen did not have ADHD’.

Commenting on the BBC’s findings, Dr Smith said he is seriously concerned for the vast amount of people who may have received a wrong diagnosis like Rory. As well as this, Dr Smith expressed major concern for people who would have ‘been started on medications inappropriately’.

The full investigation by the BBC is now available to watch in full on BBC Iplayer.

Image: Christina Victoria Craft