This page contains information for students who are moving to Reading and registering with a local GP who need ADHD medications.
If you were diagnosed as a child
If you were diagnosed when you were young, you will usually be reassessed between the ages of 16 and 18. This is to decide whether there is a need for continuing treatment. Some people who are diagnosed with ADHD do not need medication into adulthood, and others do. If it is decided that medication should continue, you should be transitioned into local adult services.
If you have not been reviewed for some time, but think that you will need medication at university, we would suggest making contact with your local service to request a review of your symptoms and medication. This is because there can be a significant wait for local services and it is difficult for local GP’s to prescribe without details from a recent specialist review as ADHD medications are prescribed under shared care agreements. When referred into the local service, they will require a copy of your reassessment which provides details of your current symptoms. If you do not have this, you will need to be reassessed within the service.
If you are registering with the university medical practice, it is helpful if you can provide a copy of your current shared care agreement (if your GP is currently prescribing, this should be in place) and a copy of your most recent clinic letter (this will provide the GP with important information such as your blood pressure, weight and medication dosages).
If you were diagnosed as an adult
If you were diagnosed as an adult, your report will be up to date and therefore transition into the local service should be more straightforward. You will need a copy of your full assessment report providing details of your symptoms now and retrospectively as a child. If you are unable to provide this, through your GP or your own records, it is likely that you will need to be assessed again and the waiting list for NHS assessments locally is in excess of 2 years. We would therefore encourage you to source as much information as you can to try to avoid this.
International students
Many students will try to bring enough medication until they return home again. If you are doing this, please ensure that you have the correct documentation for travelling with the medication as most ADHD medications are classed as a ‘controlled drug’. You can find more information here; Travelling with medicine containing a controlled drug.
If you would like to access local services, you can do this by registering with a GP on arrival and they will be able to refer you to the local service. As mentioned above, there is a significant wait for assessment services locally. If you have reports and medical documentation, we would encourage you to provide as much detail as possible to your GP. You would still need to be reviewed by the specialist service, but with an assessment report and medication history, this is likely to be much quicker.
Checklist
Here is a recap of the useful documents to obtain before moving to Reading to ensure a smooth transition of treatment. In some cases, you may not be able to provide these, and the local services will support you as best they can, but it could potentially delay your treatment.
☐ If possible, arrive with a fresh batch of medication (in the UK, this will be one month’s supply).
☐ Copy of diagnostic report since age 17. If you were diagnosed as a child, this will be a review with your team (see above).
☐ Current shared care agreement (from your current GP).
☐ Copy of a recent clinic letter with your monitoring information such as blood pressure, weight and medication details.
If you have any questions about the above, we would be happy to talk through this with you. You can contact the disability team on disability@reading.ac.uk or 0118 378 4202.