The HSE route in Galway

The same national pattern applies here as everywhere in Ireland: referrals go through your GP, and one HSE-focused guide to the system states plainly that “there is no single reliable national waiting-time figure” — wait times depend on your Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) area, your age, your referral stage, and local service capacity, and Dublin and Cork show just how differently those can play out even within the same city or county. Rather than quote a specific figure for Galway that we can't stand behind, the honest answer is: ask your GP or the local mental health service directly what the current wait looks like, because it isn't reliably published.

The private route

Private assessment removes the uncertainty of not knowing, even if it comes at a cost. The two questions that matter everywhere in Ireland apply here too: is the quoted price the full process (assessment, titration, ongoing prescribing) or just the first appointment, and what happens if your GP won't take over prescribing afterwards — shared care is always the GP's decision, not something a private diagnosis guarantees.

What to actually do

• Ask your GP directly what the current wait looks like for ADHD assessment in your CHO area, rather than relying on a general figure — Galway's isn't reliably published, unlike some other counties.
• If you're comparing private providers, ask specifically about their shared-care fallback, not just the assessment price.
• If speed and a clear all-in price (not just the first appointment) matter to you, that's exactly the gap we're exploring whether to fill.