Scotland failing neurodivergent people amid ‘postcode lottery’

Scotland is failing neurodivergent people with a healthcare system that is not fit for their needs, MSPs have heard.

Experts told Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee that those with conditions such as autism and ADHD are not getting the help they need.

The politicians were told there was “no way” the country could diagnose its way out of the 40,000 wait list for children seeking a diagnosis.

Dr Jim Crabb, consultant psychiatrist and policy lead for the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said that while neurodivergence affects up to one in five people, mental health services are built around conditions affecting only around 1% of population.

He told the committee the issue had meant the entire system is now “in meltdown”.

Dr Crabb added: “I think just now the current system is failing – it’s failing everybody in Scotland.

“I think, just to reiterate those terrible statistics, life expectancy is six to eight years less for someone who is ADHD compared to the general public – it is scandalous.

“It’s because we are trying to fit 10% to 20% of the population into a system which is always designed for 1% of the population.

“So of course we’re failing people and of course they’re not getting the help they need and then they become stuck in their life and they become despondent and filled with despair and it has those terrible outcomes.”

The expert said it would be a “tragedy” if government did not begin to deliver for neurodivergent people who have been waiting decades for help.

Dr Crabb also warned the “fragmented” nature of Scotland’s healthcare system led to a “postcode lottery” for those seeking help.

During its evidence session on Tuesday, the committee heard that more than 40,000 children are on waiting lists for neurodevelopmental assessments in Scotland, forcing many to wait years for help.

Dr Leonie Boeing, a CAMHS psychiatrist, said: “The reality is, with the way things have been where it’s been very process-driven with bottlenecks for diagnosis, there’s absolutely no way we are going to be able to diagnose ourselves out of the current waiting list.

“For example, we’ve got over 40,000 children waiting for some form of neurodevelopmental assessment at the moment.

“I suspect that’s just the tip of the iceberg given the under-recording and data-collection systems.”

Kabie Brook, a campaigner, told MSPs she had spent years being treated for mental health problems before receiving a diagnosis of autism after her child went through an assessment.

Ms Brook, who runs the ARGH Scotland group based in the Highlands, said: “The difference that the assessment and then the diagnosis made was it gave me self-worth and some validity to say, ‘Yeah, I am a real human and I am worth being here’.

“I’m just an autistic human, and that’s fine, and that also enabled me to connect with autistic community, which then became pretty much my only support because there aren’t very many services.

“So it was massively life-changing and actually saved the NHS a lot of money because I stopped sloshing around in the mental health system and going to appointments that I didn’t really need, that weren’t very helpful and actually were sometimes quite harmful.”