Record number of patients prescribed ADHD drugs on NHS as numbers more than triple in a decade

A record number of patients are being prescribed ADHD drugs on the NHS with the number soaring by almost a third last year, new figures reveal.

The NHS Business Services Authority said 427,000 people received central nervous system stimulants or other drugs used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in 2025/26.

This is up 31 per cent from 326,000 the previous year and more than triple the 116,000 in 2016/17.

The biggest increase last year was among adults, with 267,000 patients aged 18 and over prescribed the medicines, a rise of 40 per cent from 190,000 in 2024/25.

Prescribing increased around 18 per cent among children, from 136,000 to 160,000.

The total number of prescriptions issued for CNS stimulants and ADHD medicines reached 4.2 million, compared with 3.38 million a year earlier - an increase of 25 per cent, the NHSBSA added.

Experts say the rise has been fuelled by the ‘medicalisation of distress’ and warn behaviours once considered normal are now often interpreted as requiring treatment.

NHS England suggests around 2,492,000 people may have ADHD, including those without a diagnosis.

Of this number, an estimated 741,000 are children and young people aged five to 24.

As of March 2026, there were up to 803,658 open referrals that may be for an ADHD assessment, NHS data shows.

Last December, the Government launched a review into ADHD, autism and mental health services to examine rising demand.

The report, published in March, said the diagnosis of conditions is ‘increasingly being used to secure support’, and education systems are ‘not merely responding to diagnosis, but are also shaping demand for it’.

It highlighted that ‘rising distress’ among younger people appears to be one of the factors behind an increase in demand for services, and said a ‘medicalisation of distress’ can lead to a diagnosis being the ‘main route of support’, even when alternative responses may be more appropriate.

The authors also suggest that historically ‘behaviours in children once regarded as within the range of normal variation, or even as something to be welcomed in some contexts’ are now ‘more often interpreted as requiring intervention or treatment’.

The NHSBSA today published its annual Medicines Used in Mental Health report, which tracks prescribing across five sections of the British National Formulary.

It reveals an annual increase in prescribing across antidepressants, hypnotics and anxiolytics, dementia medicines, antipsychotics, and CNS stimulants and drugs commonly used for ADHD.

Both the number of prescriptions and the number of identified patients increased in every category during 2025/26.

Four out of five categories had higher numbers of patients in more deprived areas in England, with the exception of drugs for dementia.

Antidepressants remained the most widely prescribed group, with 96 million items issued to 9.1 million patients, 3.1 per cent more than in the previous year.

Women accounted for 65 per cent of patients receiving antidepressants.

Five million drugs commonly used to treat dementia were prescribed, with prescribing at its highest levels since 2016/17.

Some 341,000 identified patients were prescribed drugs commonly used to treat dementia, compared to 326,000 in 2024/25.