ADHD Assessment Waitlist: Why the Wait and How to Shorten It
Adults wait just over 10 weeks on average for a first ADHD assessment appointment in Australia. Here is why, based on workforce and demand figures, and what practically shortens the wait.
Adults wait just over 10 weeks on average for a first ADHD assessment appointment in Australia, and children wait about 19 weeks, according to 2026 University of Wollongong reporting. Some people wait far longer than that average: up to a year for an adult, and up to two years for a child. The wait comes down to a straightforward supply problem, too few clinicians relative to demand, and it responds, at least partly, to how you go about booking.
Why the wait happens
Australia has roughly 125 psychologists, 16 psychiatrists and 7 paediatricians per 100,000 people, per the same 2026 reporting, a workforce that covers every mental health and developmental condition, not just ADHD. Demand has grown alongside that: national reporting put the number of Australians with ADHD at around 800,000 in 2019, rising toward 1.5 million by 2023, close to 6 percent of the population, while a separate estimate cited by RACGP newsGP, reporting on Queensland's 2025 prescribing reform, puts prevalence at around one in 20 Australians. The same University of Wollongong research found that only 59 percent of clinicians contacted responded within two phone calls, and fewer than half of those who did had any availability to book an assessment at all.
How bad the wait can get in the public system
The clearest public-system example is the ACT. The ACT Government's Adult Community Mental Health Services stopped accepting new adult ADHD assessment referrals from 1 October 2025, after a May 2025 ministerial brief put the public wait at over 24 months. As of April 2025, 27 of the 330 people on that service's moderate-mental-illness waitlist were specifically waiting for an ADHD assessment. That figure describes one territory's public adult service rather than the country, and shows how much longer a public wait can run compared with the private averages above.
What actually shortens the wait
Call more than one clinic. With fewer than half of clinicians having any availability when contacted, per the University of Wollongong research, ringing around several practices rather than waiting on one intake list measurably improves your odds of an earlier appointment. Ask about telehealth too, since a clinician who isn't the closest one geographically might still be the soonest available, and the clinical process is the same either way. And keep an eye on where prescribing rules are changing: from 1 December 2025, any Queensland GP can initiate ADHD medication for adults without extra accreditation, which is starting to shorten the medication step of the pathway in that state, even though the diagnostic assessment itself still has to happen first.
Common questions
How long is the ADHD assessment waitlist in Australia?
Nationally, adults wait just over 10 weeks on average for a first appointment and children about 19 weeks, though individual waits go much higher: up to a year for adults and two years for children in some cases, per 2026 University of Wollongong reporting.
Source: University of Wollongong, 2026.
Does calling more clinics actually help with the wait?
It can. The same national research found only 59 percent of clinicians contacted responded within two calls, and fewer than half had any availability to book, which means contacting several practices rather than just one improves the odds of finding an earlier opening.
Sources
- University of Wollongong: A 12-month wait and a $1,400 bill
- RACGP newsGP: Queensland GPs to diagnose and treat ADHD
- The Canberra Times: ACT government stops taking on ADHD assessments for adults
Related reading
- Online ADHD assessment: how telehealth works
- How much does an ADHD assessment cost?
- Browse online ADHD assessment options
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