Latest news with #UniversityOfHuddersfield
BreakingNews.ie
26-06-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Post-pandemic surge in prescriptions for ADHD meds costs €30 million
The number of people receiving medication for ADHD under free or subsidised drug schemes has surged by 150% since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, costing more than €30 million in the past five years A total of 25,715 patients were prescribed medication for the neurodevelopmental disorder on the medical card or other public health schemes last year, compared to 10,327 in 2020. Advertisement The annual cost of the medication, which is most often a stimulant called methylphenidate, also more than doubled during that period, rising from €4.1 million in 2020 to €9.3 million last year. Last year, 11,357 patients were prescribed drugs for ADHD on the medical card, while 12,105 patients who were medicated for the disorder received reimbursements under the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS). A further 2,253 people received medication for ADHD under the Long-Term Illness (LTI) scheme. Galway was the Local Health Office (LHO) area with the highest number of patients who were prescribed ADHD drugs under the medical card scheme last year, with 833. This was followed by Laois-Offaly, where 557 medical-card holders received the medication. Advertisement The LHO area with the highest number of patients who received reimbursements for ADHD medication under the DPS in 2024 was Dublin South East, with 1,261, followed by Dun Laoghaire with 818. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Huddersfield and Aston University attributed a reported rise in ADHD diagnoses since the pandemic to increased awareness of the disorder via social media. They also said there was a 'strong association' between the impact of the pandemic and the worsening of ADHD symptoms, which include inattention, hyperactivity, and emotional dysregulation. Drugs used to treat the disorder include methylphenidate, which is better known by the brand names Ritalin, Concerta and Delmosart, as well as two other stimulants: dexamfetamine and lisdexamfetamine. Advertisement In April, Government Chief Whip Mary Butler, the minister of state with responsibility for mental health, suggested that a surge in young children with ADHD was driving waiting lists for CAMHS. Ireland Irish people left 'high and dry' in cost of living... Read More Records released under freedom of information laws show that the number of patients prescribed medication for ADHD on the medical card scheme has increased by 69 per cent since 2020. The number of people prescribed ADHD on the DPS increased by 655 per cent from 1,604 to 12,105 during the same period, while the number of patients receiving ADHD drugs on the LTI scheme increased by 12 per cent. The LHO area with the lowest number of patients prescribed medication for ADHD under the medical card scheme last year was West Cork, with 79. It was also the lowest LHO area under the LTI scheme, with seven. A total of 80 patients on the DPS were prescribed ADHD drugs in Roscommon in 2024, according to the records released by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Huddersfield student and Leeds cricketer is victim of plane crash
Tributes have been paid to a student and keen cricketer who was killed in the Air India plane Patel, 23, who studied at the University of Huddersfield, was one of 241 passengers and crew members who died when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner travelling from Ahmedabad to London crashed on Patel completed an MSc in artificial intelligence at the university and played cricket for Leeds Modernians Cricket George Bargiannis described his former student as an "exceptional individual" who had achieved the highest grade on his course. Dr Bargiannis, a reader in artificial intelligence at the university's school of computing and engineering, said Mr Patel was "someone I came to know not just for his academic abilities, but for his warmth, passion, and enthusiasm"."Dirdh was an exceptional individual, always intellectually curious, coming to me during classes with questions that showed deep understanding and commitment. "He had a clear ability of seeing the bigger picture and how his learning could lead to making a positive impact in the world."Dr Bargiannis said he had stayed in touch with Mr Patel after he graduated and added: "His loss is a devastating reminder of how fragile life can be."My thoughts are with his family, friends, fellow students, and all who were fortunate enough to know him. May his memory continue to inspire those of us who had the privilege of sharing a part of his life."Mr Patel played for Leeds Modernians as their overseas player in club said they were "incredibly saddened" by the news of his death."The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Dirdh's family and everyone who knew him," they added.A spokesperson for the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League said Mr Patel, who was originally from Gujarat, had intended to continue playing the sport "once settled into his new job".His brother Krutik previously played for Pool Cricket Club, they added, with both clubs holding a minute's silence before their respective matches at the weekend. The plane Mr Patel had been travelling on crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International cause of the disaster is still unknown. Investigators have recovered the plane's black box as they work to find answers. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Independent
31-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
The near-2.5m Brits with ADHD are not making it up: Calling it a scam is a disgrace
New NHS England data has estimated that almost 2.5m people in England are likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Some degree of salt-pinching is needed here as figures were developed using pre-existing estimates from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which suggests that around three to four per cent of adults and five per cent of children and young people have ADHD. The new data also suggests that more than half a million people (549,000) in England were waiting for an ADHD assessment at the end of March 2025. This is up from 416,000 a year earlier at the end of March 2024, so we can probably expect further ' villain of the week ' headlines about how the 'worried well' are wasting NHS resources and how 'everyone wants a diagnosis' these days. In March, a study by the University of Huddersfield and Aston University showed that ADHD prescriptions had risen 18 per cent year on year since the pandemic which led to headlines of a 'scam' around ADHD diagnosis, and the usual sympathetic calls for people not to be so pathetic and to Just Get On With It. This is despite there being a 50 per cent rise in prescriptions between 2007 and 2012 – coincidentally, around the time the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence released its new guidelines on ADHD. Awareness and understanding usually lead to an increase in treatment. The response is the same as that around the rise in treatment for depression in the 2010s when the likes of Stephen Fry were jeered at for speaking up. ' We're all a little bit [insert name of condition here],' is often rolled out, to which I am always tempted to reply, stop being childish about stuff you can't be bothered to learn about like an adult. This applies to reading beyond the headlines, to our dear orange friend in the White House, and it certainly applies to health conditions. We all go to the loo, but if you're going to the loo 100 times a day, there's a problem. This response makes me especially cross as the same day that study was released, I had been speaking to recipients of PIP – personal independence payments – about the government's benefits reforms, which include a slightly mystifying determination to Get Everyone Back Into Work (I have yet to hear a genuine explanation of what can be done for people who cannot work) and freezing PIP. These payments are not related to work but are used to help offset the additional costs of being disabled. They also have a zero per cent fraud rate. A young powerchair user, also an Oxford finalist, described a cognitive dissonance: 'They can't conceive of somebody that they deem to be productive in society – getting a degree or working – also doing something they deem to be unproductive – requiring support and benefits.' This seems to be what happens here. Without physical 'evidence', some people think they are making it up, or that people with difficult health conditions should only be living saints in hospital beds, rather than people getting on with their lives in our communities. People with ADHD differ in whether they consider it a disability, usually because how much it impacts their lives depends on the structures they already have in place. Part of the huge rise in people seeking assessment since the pandemic is that the lockdowns instantly removed people's coping mechanisms. Middle-aged adults are also often assessed when their children go through assessment and every question sets off alarms for themselves. When people say, 'There wasn't all this in my day,' the answer is usually: there was, but it wasn't considered 'nice' – so people didn't admit to it. ADHD has been described in medical literature since the 1700s. As recently as the 1950s, autism in children was blamed on mothers being 'cold and distant'. People were named unmentionable words or kept apart from society. (We cannot feel too lofty about our progress here. A 2024 investigation by Mencap and ITV found that the NHS was spending over half a billion pounds a year locking up 2,000 autistic people or with a learning disability in England – many of whom should have been in community care.) I compare the rise in ADHD diagnoses with the stats around left-handed people, which averaged around 3 per cent in the 1900s – and rose sharply from the 1910s and stabilising in the 1960s – coincidentally, around the time that left-handed children stopped having their hands tied behind their back. Discrimination against any vulnerable community stems from fear: 'I don't want this near me because I know how society treats them.' Well, what if this were you, or your family? As The National columnist Paul Kavanagh told me this week: 'The disabled are the only minority group that anybody can become a part of at any time.' Kavanagh was perfectly fit and healthy until he suffered a stroke in October 2020. Due to ambulance shortages from Covid, he suffered life-changing injuries which have left him with limited mobility, unable to use one arm, and with multiple lifelong conditions. He was still turned down for PIP at first, and when he rang to appeal, he was given the veiled threat that his appeal risked him losing his benefits. Peer support through social media can help but it has limits, which is why people are waiting for up to 10 years for an assessment. That said, I 'self-diagnosed' with hip problems and went to my GP, which led to my hip replacement. Nobody said a word about that. Nobody says anything about going to your GP if you're worried about a lump, quite rightly. We know people with cancer. We know people with depression. You probably know someone with a lot more going on too. And for anyone doubtfully saying, 'There's no smoke without fire.' There is if there's someone with a socking great gas canister going, 'Look over there!' Our society distrusts difference. We have long stigmatised differences as a sign of the Devil or God, rather than old Barbara down the street who likes a good cheese. It's only by providing support, by advocating, explaining, and bringing these stories into people's homes, as Strictly Come Dancing does every year and Heidi Thomas with Down syndrome actors in Call the Midwife – even as Princess Diana did with Aids patients and landmine victims in the 1990s – that we see others as people and stop being afraid. Afraid of them, and our own shortcomings.
