GP route open
Where South Australia sits on GP diagnosis and prescribing, as at 8 August 2026.
$467.45
Medicare rebate on item 92435, psychiatrist assessment by video. Same rebate in person. Once per 12 months.
~$1,400
What a private psychiatrist assessment commonly costs before the rebate.
Part 1 of 4
Can a GP diagnose ADHD in South Australia?
Your GP can diagnose ADHD and prescribe, once they have completed additional training. Not every GP has done it, so it is worth asking when you book.
Ring your practice and ask whether any of their GPs have completed the ADHD prescribing training. If yes, book long with that GP. If no, ask which nearby practice has, or fall back to the psychiatrist route.
South Australia runs the trained GP model: the route exists everywhere in the state, but it travels through the GPs who opted in, so the first phone call is about finding one. The route applies to patients aged 8 and over; children under 8 still go through the specialist route.
The national picture, including every other state and what changes next, lives in the GP diagnosis guide.
Part 2 of 4
The psychiatrist route, and why video changed it
A GP referral to a psychiatrist remains the standard route wherever the GP path is closed, and video assessment attracts the same Medicare rebate as in person: $467.45 on item 92435, claimable once every 12 months. Video means the psychiatrist does not have to be in your state at all.
The number that matters is not the clinic's headline fee but your gap after the rebate, and it swings by more than a thousand dollars between clinics billing the same item. Ask for the gap in writing before you book, ask the wait for the medication appointment rather than the first call, and check the assessing practitioner on the Ahpra register, all covered in the assessment section of our resources page.
A typical wait to see a psychiatrist is around twelve months, and clinics with short waits often charge accordingly. The cost guide walks the whole bill, including what happens after diagnosis.
Part 3 of 4
The official pages for South Australia
Stimulants are Schedule 8 medicines, so the rules on who can prescribe them are state law, administered by the health department. These are the official pages, plus the organisations worth knowing here.
SA Health: Drugs of Dependence Unit
The unit that administers prescribing authorities for Schedule 8 medicines in South Australia.
- Free
- Government run
Office for Autism (South Australia)
South Australia is the only state with a dedicated Office for Autism inside government.
- Free
- Government run
Autism SA
The independent state autism charity, including assessment services it sells; read with that in mind.
- Not-for-profit
Part 4 of 4
If you are starting from zero today
Work out whether the traits fit, take that to a GP, choose the route this page describes, and budget from the gap, not the headline. None of it needs to happen in one week.
Start with the recognition tool if you are still working out whether to start at all; it sorts thirty-two experiences into ADHD flavoured, autistic flavoured and shared, and it is not a test. Then the resources directory holds the checked links for everything this page mentions: money help, medicine rules, work and study rights, and who to call in a bad week.
If both autism and ADHD are in question, read the AuDHD explainer before booking, and ask any assessor whether they cover both in one process.
The short version
Quick answers
Can a GP diagnose ADHD in South Australia?
Your GP can diagnose ADHD and prescribe, once they have completed additional training. Not every GP has done it, so it is worth asking when you book. Ring your practice and ask whether any of their GPs have completed the ADHD prescribing training. If yes, book long with that GP. If no, ask which nearby practice has, or fall back to the psychiatrist route.
How much does an ADHD assessment cost in South Australia?
If a trained GP is involved, GP consultation prices. If not, the standard psychiatrist route applies: commonly about $1,400 before Medicare, with $467.45 back on the video assessment item 92435. The Adelaide University health clinics psychology service, listed on our resources page, plans a low-cost ADHD assessment service and runs a waitlist, but it is not yet taking ADHD bookings.
Who sets the prescribing rules in South Australia?
Stimulants are Schedule 8 medicines, so the state or territory health department controls who may prescribe them and under what authority. The official page is linked on this guide, and it is the authority when anything here has aged.