WA is Australia’s ADHD prescribing hotspot, but GPs have nothing to do with it.
Western Australia was the first state to act on expanding GP ADHD prescribing scope, and according to new data it is also host to 13 of the country’s 20 highest ADHD prescription-dispensing neighbourhoods.
As tempting as it may be to draw a connection between GP prescribing being greenlit and WA having the highest levels of ADHD prescriptions per capita, however, this is simply a coincidence.
As of last year, WA was also the first state to propose reforms allowing GPs to diagnose ADHD and initiate stimulant medication, on the condition that they received peer support from a paediatrician or psychiatrist.
According to the RACGP, more than 400 GPs applied for the 65 state-funded training positions on offer.
But the first tranche of GPs only finished ADHD prescribing in the last few weeks, and the data collected by the University of NSW for ABC program Four Corners is from the 2025 financial year.
“The health department is still processing their paperwork, so they haven’t commenced practice as ADHD doctors yet,” Dr Stevens told The Medical Republic.
The new analysis of 2025 financial year prescription data revealed that, in general, more socio-economically advantaged neighbourhoods had higher rates of ADHD.
WA was an outlier in several ways.
As mentioned above, 13 WA neighbourhoods appear in the list of Australia’s top 20 highest adult ADHD prescription-dispensing areas.
But while relatively high-advantage locations like Fremantle and Cottesloe have significantly higher-than-average ADHD prescription dispensing rates, the same is true for relatively low-advantage locations like Mandurah and Bunbury.
“There were a couple of very influential paediatricians and psychiatrists going back to the 90s and early 2000s who really promoted the identification and diagnosis of ADHD,” Perth GP and RACGP digital health and innovation chair Dr Sean Stevens said.
“I think they influenced the medical fraternity here in WA and they diagnosed a lot of kids and younger adults, so I think that we’re seeing the effects of their practice decades later.”
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In general, Dr Stevens said, the new data reinforces what many GPs have known for some time; that if you live in a regional area or a lower socio-economic area, you are less likely to have an ADHD diagnosis.
“The wealthiest 20% of households have twice the rate of ADHD diagnosis to the poorest 20% of households,” he said.
“And the WA program has deliberately prioritised regional, rural and remote GPs, and GPs working in outer metro, lower socio-economic areas or Aboriginal Controlled [Community Health Organisations] to try and address some of those equity and access issues.”
Late last year, state and federal health ministers established an advisory group to lead work on harmonising drugs and poisons legislation.
The health ministers reportedly requested the newly-formed advisory group deliver advice on a nationally consistent approach to the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD by GPs.
It was set to report back with a 12-month plan by early 2026.
“It’s an illness that has a prevalence in adults between 2% and 6% according to the [Australasian ADHD Professionals Association] website,” Dr Stevens said.
“That’s equivalent to common illnesses like diabetes and asthma. If every [patient with a] case of diabetes and asthma had to see a non-GP specialist to get the basic treatment, the system would collapse.”
“We need to start to normalise ADHD management and bring straightforward cases of ADHD into general practice to free up capacity for our sub-specialist colleagues to be able to manage the more difficult cases.”
