Junior doctors claim they have ADHD to avoid night shifts

Junior doctors are claiming to have ADHD and dyslexia to get out of night shifts and on-call work, NHS leaders have claimed.

The number of doctors who say they are neurodivergent or have learning disabilities has almost doubled to more than 6,000 since the pandemic, with young British-born people most likely to claim they have a condition.

Executives are concerned by the sharp rise in medics citing mental health or neurodivergence to reduce their workload or explain poor exam results.

Senior doctors said that some “were determined to avoid night work permanently”, and used social media forums to share tips about getting advantageous working conditions. They claimed that doctors would “react badly” when their claims were challenged.

However, the British Medical Association (BMA) said disabled doctors were suffering from discrimination and must get any “reasonable adjustments” they needed.

The rise in doctors’ ADHD claims comes amid a surge in reports of the condition in wider society, which is contributing to Britain’s worklessness crisis.

Around 1.2 million people aged 16-34 are now classed as disabled because of mental health, according to government figures, a near threefold jump since 2013-2014.

More than four million people of all ages are on jobless benefits with no requirement to look for work, mostly because they are suffering from long-term illness.

More than half of the disabilities that doctors declare are mental or cognitive impairments rather than physical ones.

There is most commonly a “learning disability”, followed by a “mental illness”, analysis of General Medical Council (GMC) data show.

Some 13 per cent – more than one in eight – British doctors under the age of 35 now claim to be disabled, which is more than double the 6 per cent of doctors aged over 35.

Just 2 per cent of foreign doctors claim to have a disability.

Concerns particularly centre on junior doctors, now known as resident doctors, a group that has also held repeated strikes to secure inflation-busting pay rises.

Leaders from the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) expressed concern during a meeting with a GMC advisory group in November about resident doctors trying to game the system.

In minutes seen by The Telegraph, Dr Anne de Bono, the former president of the faculty, said doctors were claiming exemptions and workplace adjustments for ADHD, autism, and mental health conditions for which they had no prior medical history.

Doctors undergo “occupational health assessments” for each placement during their training to advise on any work adjustments they may need.

A summary of the meeting said: “In recent years there has been a major increase in referrals of resident doctors identified as having neurodiverse traits, particularly dyslexia and ADHD, on routine psychological testing arranged by [the professional support and wellbeing unit] following exam difficulties...

“Most have no previous history of recognised neurodiversity and have met academic requirements in the past.

“Many resident doctors now welcome the finding of neurodiverse traits and request multiple accommodations/adjustments in the workplace/training.”

Prof Harjinder Kaul, a consultant occupational health physician, told the meeting that “neurodiversity may provide an explanation for observed performance issues but not an excuse”, a statement which “all forum members supported”.

No night shifts because of ‘mental health’

Dr Bono also revealed that many junior doctors were obtaining notes from GPs or nurses saying they could not work night shifts because of “mental health problems”.

“Some appear determined to avoid night work permanently, saying it is not required as part of training,” the minutes read, adding that they “often react badly if advised by an occupational medicine consultant that there is no evidence of any long-term condition incompatible with night work”.

She highlighted this had a “significant and detrimental impact on colleagues who work nights” and raised concerns about “several online forums, chat functions accessed by resident doctors promote adjustments in training posts, particularly related to night work”.

Social media forums such as Reddit show doctors swapping tips on how to get such adjustments.

In one example seen by The Telegraph, a doctor asked for advice on proving they had dyslexia and ADHD to get “extra time” for their internal medicine training exams, after being told they would have to share a “diagnostic assessment”.

Since 2021, the number of doctors with ADHD or another learning disability has increased from 3,549 to 6,049.

Some 4,136 medics said they had a mental illness, while fewer than 250 had sight loss.

Other categories included hearing loss, speech impairment, mobility and manual dexterity, accounting for around 2,000 people.

More than 5,000 doctors had another impairment that was not listed, typically a long-term condition such as epilepsy, cancer, or long-Covid.

A further 1,307 said they were disabled but preferred not to give details.

The surge in doctors with ADHD, autism, or a mental illness, is part of a wider trend across Britain where such conditions have driven a doubling in the overall number of disabled 16-to 34-year-olds to 3.3 million since 2014.

Of this group, 1.2 million say they are disabled because of a mental health condition.

Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, announced a review in December into the rising demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services.

He previously said people were being “over-diagnosed” and “written off”, but later stated this had “failed to capture the complexity of this problem”.

The review into services comes as ministers look to clamp down on Britain’s welfare bill, which is spiralling because of claims for non-physical disabilities.

Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, is leading a review into Britain’s youth unemployment crisis.

Last week, he said cases of ADHD and autism were soaring across Europe but in the UK there was a “marked difference” where this translated to economic inactivity.

Claims for disability benefits such as personal independence payments (Pip) have more than doubled since the pandemic to 3.8 million.

Rachel Reeves was forced into an about-turn on changes to Pip by Labour backbenchers last year that would have curbed benefit claims linked to minor health conditions.

ADHD-related claims were up by a fifth in 2025 alone to 91,211.

The Department for Work and Pensions expects 8.7 million Britons – one in eight people – to be claiming welfare linked to a disability by 2030.

While doctors do not have to disclose a disability, the GMC has encouraged them to do so since 2021.

During that time, the number has risen from 10,600 to 17,500, with the biggest increase in those with learning disabilities.

These must “have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activity” and require the NHS to “always consider” requests for adjustments to work, and make any that are “reasonable”.

Commonly this includes part-time hours or more flexible schedules, which more than a quarter of junior doctors are now working. They would also still be entitled to claim non-means tested disability benefits.

A BMA survey found that 73 per cent of doctors did not get the disability adjustments that they needed.

Dr Amit Kochhar, chairman of the BMA’s representative body, said: “More doctors are disclosing disabilities and neurodivergence because awareness has improved and stigma is slowly reducing – not because these conditions are new.

“Our 2025 survey shows that many still face discrimination, and three-quarters of those who need reasonable adjustments don’t receive them.

“Reasonable adjustments, from predictable rotas to clearer communication, enable doctors to deliver high-quality care. Doctors claiming their legal right to reasonable adjustments should not be blamed for workforce shortages.

“If we fail to support doctors – especially those with specific needs – we risk pushing them out of the NHS entirely, meaning fewer doctors to provide care to patients.”

Dr Robin Cordell, the FOM president, said: “We are aware of an increasing number of referrals to occupational health linked to some resident doctors’ difficulties in fulfilling all their rota arrangements.

“We as occupational physicians will recommend adjustments to employers across all sectors involving night work that workers are restricted from night shifts where this is indicated on health grounds.

“We are currently engaged with others in updating guidance on this.”