ADHD

BBC2 Victoria Derbyshire Programme & adult ADHD

AADD-UK has received an email from Sarah Bell who is a producer for the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC2 and the News Channel.

She is hoping to make a film about adult ADHD, based on a study by King’s College London which identifies significant differences in brain activity between children whose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) continues into adolescence and adulthood, and those who later grow out of the disorder. They would like to make a short film about someone who has the condition and how it affects their life, perhaps spending a day with them. They would then hope to follow it up with a studio discussion. Sarah has assured us that this will be sensitively and responsibly handled by the BBC. This sounds like a good and positive opportunity for our voices to be heard.

Ideally they would like to start filming next week.

If anyone is interested, or would like more information please contact Sarah directly at sarah.bell@bbc.co.uk.

Here’s a link to information about the new study that has got the BBC interested in adults with ADHD

ADHD Top Tip (continuing…)

Do you ever need someone to e-mail you to remind you of something but have trouble finding someone reliable enough to do it at the right time, or at all?

A web service www.followupthen.com will do it for you. There are several ways to set up reminders, including by e-mail, and you can copy people in. Have a go and let us know what you think, or even let us know your own top tip.

Get Involved in a New Government Disability Strategy

Brighton Adult ADHD Group has been invited to contribute directly to a new cross-government disability strategy. The Government has published a discussion document with questions and Brighton Adult ADHD Group wants to gather your views, to make sure we represent the experiences of people with ADHD in Sussex.

To share your views please come to our discussion event. We will have a speaker from the Office for Disability Issues.

Date:  Wednesday 7^th March

Time:  18.30 – 20.00

Location: The Brunswick Room, The Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD

Light refreshments will be provided

For further information please contact Caroline Williams on 01403 733931

We want to talk about practical ideas that will make a real difference to your life. The Government has asked us to focus on three areas:

• realising aspirations
• increasing individual control
• changing attitudes and behaviours

We have made a questionnaire with questions relating to each area that can be downloaded here. It would be helpful if you could fill in your responses before coming to the meeting, and bring them with you. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please email your responses as soon as possible to mail@adhdbrighton.org.uk

We will send a report of our event to the Government. They will look at everyone’s suggestions and work with disabled people to publish a new strategy later this year.

If you want to find out more visit www.odi.gov.uk/fulfillingpotential

Update:Cambridgeshire’s denial of NHS treatment for adults newly diagnosed with ADHD

AADD-UK has not yet received an official response to our letter (see previous post on this subject) regarding the actions taken by NHS Trusts and Commissioning Groups in Cambridgeshire which restrict access to NICE recommended treatments for people who are diagnosed as adults with ADHD.  However, we notice that the new low priority policy for ADHD has been removed from the website for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Public Health Network and has been replaced by the words “Please note this policy has been temporarily withdrawn.” You can read this for yourself here.

Now we do realise that this removal could just be coincidence, and may or may not be a good sign.  But Cambridgeshire County Council, who also received a copy of our letter, has made a very positive move.  The Council’s “Adults Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee” has listed under Agenda Item 7a (for their meeting on 8 February 2012) in “Committee priorities and work programme 2011/12” the following: “Provision of medication for adults with ADHD: The Chairman has received representations from individuals with ADHD on this issue.  It is proposed that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, with the support of the Scrutiny and Improvement Officer, follows this up with NHS Cambridgeshire.”

Well done and a big AADD-UK Thank You to Councillor Kevin Reynold, the Chairman of the Committee!

The meeting of the Adults Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee is open to the public so if you live in Cambridgeshire and have been affected by the low priority policy do please go to the meeting. The meeting is on Wednesday 8 February 2012 at 2:30 PM in the Kreis Viersen Room, Shire Hall, Cambridge.  More details are available on their website here.

And again, Thank You Councillor Reynold!