A rushed review, lasting just 3-6 months, to decide whether mental health conditions, autism and ADHD are being overdiagnosed has been launched by the government. Fears have been raised that the extraordinarily quick turnaround time is needed to allow the review to influence the outcome of the Timms personal independence payment (PIP) review.
The review has been commissioned by Wes Streeting’s Department of Health and Social Care.
Back in March of this year, Streeting had railed against the fact that 1,000 people a day are signing up for PIP and “over the course of a year that’s the size of the city of Manchester”
And in the same month he claimed that there was an overdiagnosis of mental health conditions.
Yet, the Guardian on 4 December Streeting said he regretted this statement and that the purpose of the review was simply to reveal the truth about the issue.
On the same day, he announced in a written statement his “Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism”.
Streeting says the review will “look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, regarding prevalence, prevention and treatment, the current challenges facing clinical services, and the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation and treatment improves outcomes for individuals.”
Details of the review were first leaked to the Health Service Journal back in October, when it was revealed that psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist Peter Fonagy, would lead the review, with the hugely divisive Sir Simon Wessely acting as vice chair.
In the same month, we pointed out that the NHS had published its own “Report of the Independent ADHD Taskforce, Part 1” this year.
The report was compiled by a team of 40 people, including Prof Tamsin Jane Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Head of Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, plus six other professors. It found that the UK has much lower recognition and treatment rates of ADHD compared with other European countries.
We argued that, in the face of such up-to-date, expert evidence, if Streeting didn’t remove ADHD from the list of conditions being investigated, it would increase the suspicion that this review is not about establishing the truth, it is about cutting the benefits bill.
The terms of reference of the review still include ADHD, but no doubt coincidentally, they say that the team “will also consult other relevant reviews and taskforces, including reports by the independent ADHD Taskforce, to ensure its conclusions and recommendations are aligned.”
In addition, an extra vice chair, Professor Gillain Baird who is a consultant in children’s neurodisability, has been appointed – perhaps to offset some of the effect of the presence of Professor Wessely.
Amongst the issues the review will examine are:
- the current extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation and treatment improve outcomes
- the differences between the levels of need and disorder for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism
- the role that medicalisation of mental health conditions, ADHD and autism plays, including the associated risks and benefits
The review is required to work extraordinarily quickly. It is expected to report back in 3-6 months having looked at mental health, autism and ADHD. Yet the ADHD taskforce referred to above, had a much narrower focus, but it was set up in April 2024, produced its interim report in June 2025 and its final report in November of this year – a total of 18 months.
But the rapid turnaround means that Streeting’s review, which should report back by June 2026 at the latest, will be available to be studied by the Timms review of PIP, which is not due to report until the Autumn of 2026.
If the Streeting review does find that conditions are being overdiagnosed and that this has a negative effect on people’s life chances, then it would provide a strong argument for tightening the eligibility criteria for PIP in relation to mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.
The Streeting review says it will “work closely with people with lived experience of mental health conditions, ADHD and autism” and “consult closely with parents and carers”.
We will keep readers informed of any opportunity to provide evidence to the review, if indeed any such opportunities arise.-
