Nice Guidelines for treatment and diagnosis of ADHD in the UK-Nice-er then I thought but the press liesI

Nice Guidelines for treatment and diagnosis of ADHD in the UK

I’ve been grumbling about the nice guidelines, fact is, I read about them in the press and learned that Nice says:

-That the ‘controversial chemical cosh ‘Ritalin (with often deadly side effects!)Is ‘severely overprescribed ‘

‘Should only be given to the ‘unruliest’ children,’

That discipline eliminates the need for drugs

That parents of adhd kids must go back to class and learn to be good parents.

Should you care to read them for yourselves, some links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7630926.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2008_39_fri.shtml( contributed by John)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...en-940308.html



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...-children.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ents-told.html

This week I bothered to read the nice guidelines and couldn’t find any of the points above.

The guidelines are a real step forward for ADHD treatment and diagnosis in Britain.

Click for a link to the full guidelines-

These Guidelines are important internationally because Nice is regarded as a centre of excellence for evaluating cost effective medical treatments- other health services will be watching!.

Some Key Points-

-For the first time in the UK guidelines and recommendations are made for the treatment of adult ADHD

‘Drug treatment for adults with adhd is the first line treatment but should always form part of a comprehensive treatment programme that addresses psychological, behavioural and occupational needs.’

(-Research shows that the multimodal treatment of medication, therapy parental and teacher guidance ensures the best outcome for a youngster- and nice have tried to follow this model in a cost effective way)

-Nice recommends a fuller range of treatments be offered to parents including parent education progammes- for pre school children this should be the first line of treatment

-Nice recommends networking between services( a keystone to good adhd support):

‘that NHS Trusts should ensure that specialist adhd teams for children, young people and adults jointly develop age appropriate training programmes for the diagnosis and management of adhd, for mental health, paediatric, social care, education, forensic and primary care providers who have contact with people with adhd.’

-Children with severe problems should be offered drug treatment without delay, as previously recommended in Einaq guidelines:

‘In school age children and young people with severe adhd, drug treatment should also be offered as the first line of treatment. Families should also be offered a group-based training/education programme.

-A full programme of treatment should be offered:
‘Drug treatment for children and young people should always form part of a comprehensive treatment plan that includes psychological, behavioural and educational advice and intervention. ‘