A new clinic designed to speed up attention deficit disorder diagnoses and treatment will open in Wallsend.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park announced at John Hunter Hospital on Tuesday that the government would spend $7.7 million over two years on the pilot service in the Hunter New England and Western NSW health districts.
Mr Park said he hoped the service would become a model for treating other conditions such as autism spectrum disorder in regional and remote NSW.
The clinic is designed to take children aged 6 to 12 off the general waiting list for paediatric services and direct them to specialist treatment.
"Early diagnosis is critical. We're not doing well enough, if you want me to be up front about it, in this space," Mr Park said.
"[For] a classroom teacher, it can often have considerable impacts on a person's educational outcomes.
"I think there's an opportunity to have a look at this model, if it's successful, to take it on to other areas such as autism, Asperger's and other conditions on the spectrum, to look at how we lift those children up."
Mr Park said the Hunter New England clinic would have eight full-time staff and the capacity to treat up to 600 children in concert with their general practitioners.
The clinic will have a multi-disciplinary team including paediatricians, a psychologist, clinic nurse consultant, pharmacist, Aboriginal health worker, shared care coordinator and administration staff.
"This is about making sure we take pressure off paediatric waiting lists ... and also about getting that early diagnosis, that early access to treatment, that early access to support," Mr Park said.
"What we've got, unfortunately, in this district is a situation where some young people have been on a waiting list for a couple of years to access an ADHD diagnosis and treatment plan.
"What we're going to do is lift them out of the general paediatric outpatient waiting list, get them into the specific service."
Eligible patients referred to the district's paediatric wait list will be accepted and contacted by the clinic to book in an appointment.
The clinic will not accept direct referrals.
Mr Park announced on Monday that the John Hunter would open a youth outpatient alcohol and other drugs service integrated with the hospital's existing Nexus adolescent mental health unit.
