Debate contribution: ADHD Services
Debate contribution by Mr Maolíosa McHugh on .
- MLA
- Mr Maolíosa McHugh
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 9 February 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- ADHD Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5369729
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the motion and the amendment. Like every other office, mine is inundated with people who are dealing with difficulties and problems related to ADHD. I will highlight one aspect of that by giving one young person's story. That young person was diagnosed with ADHD and had been receiving a prescription from his doctor from as far back as 2017. A number of years later, he left the North of Ireland to attend university in Britain. He registered in Britain to ensure that he would continue to get his prescription, which he received monthly because of the type of medicine that he was receiving. That continued throughout his time at university. When he came home — he never left home; he only attended college in Britain — he found it impossible to get his medication again. His doctor said that he would need a new referral because he had dropped out of the system, and his trust area was not accepting any new referrals because it was inundated with people coming forward with ADHD. That young person is attempting to hold down a job and he desperately needs his medication, but he is finding it impossible to acquire. That young person is not an exception. Many of our young people go across the water to Britain to go to college or, increasingly, to work temporarily and travel back after a few months. If they register with a doctor and are prescribed medication in Britain, when they return to Northern Ireland they will find that they have dropped out of the system and cannot access their medication. I welcome today's debate because it highlights an anomaly in the system and how people are being entirely let down by the very same system that should support them. I hope that the Minister will look at those issues and provide for that particular cohort of people.
321 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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