‘Designated GPs who complete the training may independently assess, diagnose and initiate treatment for ADHD in patients aged 10 years and older.’
A GP in Brisbane can diagnose an adult with ADHD and start them on a stimulant. A GP in Perth can do the same for a patient over 10. A GP in Sydney can keep a stable patient supplied without a specialist arrangement, but cannot start one. A GP in Canberra can continue what a psychiatrist began and nothing more.
None of that was true two years ago, and the four positions are the product of four separate reforms on four timetables. There is no national pathway and no national training standard, and the rules a GP is working under are the rules of the state they are standing in.
What follows is a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction read of where the reforms have landed.
Where each jurisdiction has landed
The table is compiled from the Australian ADHD Professionals Association’s regulation tracker, which is the only source covering all eight jurisdictions in one place and stamping each with its own review date. It is a peak-body summary, not a regulator. Confirm the position with the relevant state or territory health department before prescribing — several of these pathways have changed twice in eighteen months, and one of the source pages below has not been revised since 2022.
| Jurisdiction | What a GP may do | What is required first | Source reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qld | Specialist GPs may initiate, modify and continue stimulant treatment for adults aged 18 and over, from 1 December 2025. Children aged 4–17 remain a separate pathway. | Specialist registration in general practice. Other GPs need individual prescribing approval with demonstrated specialist support. | Feb 2026 |
| WA | Designated GPs may independently assess, diagnose and initiate for patients aged 10 and over. Other GPs may continue specialist-initiated treatment under a shared care model. | The WA Specialist GP ADHD Training Program and approval. Shared care prescribers must verify treatment history via ScriptCheckWA. | May 2026 |
| NSW | Since 1 September 2025, trained GPs may resupply psychostimulants to patients on stable doses without an ongoing specialist management arrangement. Initiation remains specialist-led. | Accredited NSW Health-funded training and approval as a continuation prescriber. A later phase is flagged to extend to diagnosis and initiation. | Feb 2026 |
| ACT | Continuation only. GPs may maintain treatment a psychiatrist or paediatrician has initiated or reviewed, for patients aged 6 and over. | A notification to the Chief Health Officer before prescribing under the standing approval. Non-routine cases need individual approval. | Feb 2026 |
| SA | Any medical practitioner may prescribe for up to two months. Beyond that an authority is required, and can run up to five years for stable patients. | An authority application, which for a GP generally needs supporting specialist opinion. SA Health began training its own GP prescriber cohort in early 2026. | Not stated |
| Tas | GPs may prescribe only after a specialist has assessed and diagnosed the patient. No independent diagnosis or initiation. | A section 59E authority supported by a specialist clinical report and management plan. Granted for up to 36 months; renewal needs evidence of continued specialist review. | Jul 2024 |
| Vic | GPs require a Schedule 8 treatment permit, generally granted only with evidence of specialist diagnosis and recent specialist review. | A permit application. Permit conditions typically require specialist review every two years. A state-funded program to train 150 GPs was announced for 2026. | May 2022 — stale |
| NT | GPs may co-prescribe with specialist oversight, capped at a set number of patients. | Authority renewed every two years through the Scheduled Substances Clinical Advisory Committee. Patients are referred back to the original specialist for review. | Not stated |
Compiled from the AADPA regulation tracker. ‘Source reviewed’ is the review date the tracker records for that jurisdiction, not the date of this article. A blank or old date means the position should be checked directly with the regulator before it is relied on.
Four models, one structure
Read together, the jurisdictions are running four versions of the same idea: full GP initiation after training (Qld, WA), continuation or resupply after training (NSW), continuation under a standing approval (ACT), and permit or authority tied to specialist input (Vic, Tas, SA, NT).
All four are shared care. Even the most devolved model keeps a specialist somewhere in the arrangement — in the diagnosis, in the periodic review, in the authority condition, or in the supporting opinion that unlocks the authority in the first place. The reforms have changed who writes the script, not whether a psychiatrist or paediatrician stays involved.
Two practical consequences follow for a GP taking on ADHD patients.
The first is that the specialist relationship is now a standing requirement rather than a referral event. Several of the pathways make continued prescribing conditional on evidence of specialist review within a defined period, which means the review has to happen, be documented, and be retrievable.
The second is that interstate patients are no longer a theoretical problem. All jurisdictions now accept interstate prescriptions for ADHD stimulants where the prescriber is registered and the script meets the dispensing state’s requirements — but the prescribing authority itself does not travel. A GP’s scope is set by their own jurisdiction regardless of where the patient was diagnosed.
The specialist contact is claimable
Where these pathways require ongoing specialist involvement, the Medicare Benefits Schedule already funds a structured way to have it. The mental health case conference items cover a scheduled discussion about one patient with several clinicians in it, claimable by the practitioner who organises it and by those who take part.
The detail that matters for ADHD is who sits in the specialist item. Items 946 / 948 / 959 (organise) and 961 / 962 / 964 (participate) read ‘a consultant physician in the practice of the consultant physician’s specialty of psychiatry or paediatrics’. Most child and adolescent ADHD care is paediatrician-led, and the paediatrician is inside the same item family as the psychiatrist.
A GP organises on 930 / 933 / 935, or participates on 937 / 943 / 945. Eligible allied health practitioners participate on 80176 / 80177 / 80178; note MN.3.2 defines that group, which takes in psychologists, mental health nurses, occupational therapists and social workers.
A conference needs at least three participants, and explanatory note AN.0.49 counts a maximum of two medical practitioners towards that minimum. A GP and a paediatrician alone does not meet it. The psychologist, occupational therapist or school counsellor already working with the patient does.
A case conference is not a specialist review and does not satisfy a permit condition that calls for one. It is a way to fund the discussion the pathway assumes will happen anyway, and to leave a record of it.
About Conference.care
Conference.care is an Australian platform for running Medicare-funded case conferences. The convening clinician organises the conference and claims the item; the platform handles the arrangements around it, including bringing a team together and rostering it to suit the patient, consent and paperwork, and a browser-based secure video room. Participants advise the convening clinician and do not take over the patient’s care. Further detail is on the allied and mental health and case conferencing pages.
Sources
- Australian ADHD Professionals Association. ADHD medication prescribing regulations and authorities in Australia and New Zealand. Per-jurisdiction summary with individual review dates. aadpa.com.au.
- The prescribing authority in each jurisdiction is set by that jurisdiction’s own drugs and poisons legislation and administered by its health department. Those departments, not this article and not the tracker above, are the authority on what a given practitioner may prescribe.
- Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Medicare Benefits Schedule — item descriptors and explanatory notes AN.0.49 and MN.3.2. Item numbers above link to their entries on MBS Online.
General information for clinicians, current at the date of publication. It is not clinical, financial or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the prescribing rules of a practitioner’s own jurisdiction, which change frequently and are the only authority on scope. Item numbers and explanatory notes are as published in the Medicare Benefits Schedule and should be checked against the current schedule before claiming. Conference duration, frequency and composition remain clinical decisions for the coordinating practitioner.