Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the pausing of Shared Care Agreements for ADHD on patients.

Shared care within the National Health Service refers to a voluntary arrangement whereby a specialist may transfer responsibility for aspects of a patient’s care, such as prescription of medication, to the patient’s general practitioner (GP). Decisions regarding shared care agreements are made locally, and the General Medical Council has made it clear that GPs are not contractually obliged to enter shared care agreements and may decline requests on clinical or capacity grounds.

No specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of shared care agreements with independent sector providers for patients prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication.

NHS England established an ADHD taskforce bringing together people with lived experience with experts from across sectors to better understand the challenges in accessing timely and equitable support.

In addition, on 4 December 2025 my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism, which will inform our approach to ensuring appropriate support is in place.