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A leading medic has faced backlash after claiming that the learning and attention disorder ADHD 'is not a medical condition'.

Dr Iona Heath, the ex-president of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), made the comments in a promotion for an upcoming Channel 4 documentary on the topic.

Around 2.5 million Britons are living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Diagnoses have risen around 20-fold since the turn of the century.

The NHS describes ADHD as a 'condition where the brain works differently to most people' and explains that patients often have difficulty concentrating and sitting still.

It is categorised by many healthcare professionals as being a 'neurodevelopmental disorder' or 'neurodevelopmental condition'.

But, in promotional material for the show – titled The Great ADHD Myth? – Dr Heath, who worked as a London GP for more than 35 years, said: 'It is certainly not a medical condition as far as I'm concerned.'

The RCGP, which represents 53,000 UK GPs, has now distanced itself from the comments made by its former chief.

They said in a statement: 'The RCGP would like to make clear that the quote attributed to a former college president was not made on behalf of the college.

Dr Iona Heath has faced backlash after claiming that the learning and attention disorder ADHD 'is not a medical condition'

'The college recognises ADHD as a neurodevelopmental condition and supports evidence-based care for people with ADHD in line with current national guidance.'

Dr Heath hit back at the college's response, telling GP magazine Pulse that the body's comments were premature.

She said: 'At this stage all I can say is that I don't think that the leadership of the RCGP should respond to a press release designed to get publicity before they have seen the programme itself, and had an opportunity to consider how we should all approach what has become a very complex and challenging subject.'

The RCGP has said it would be 'inappropriate to comment further' until it had seen the documentary.

The new documentary will be presented by the Daily Mail's weekly health columnist and psychiatrist, Dr Max Pemberton.

Channel 4 say the film will hear 'from a growing number of medical experts who are questioning the conventional narrative around ADHD, many of whom have been senior in the NHS'.

They add: 'They discuss whether the real problem is the environments in which young people are growing up, as well as the current health and schooling systems not being flexible enough to cater for a wide enough range of personalities and behaviours among children.'

NHS figures published this year showed that a record 427,000 people in England were taking medication for ADHD.

This is up 31 per cent from 326,000 the previous year and more than triple the 116,000 in 2016-17.

The biggest increase last year was among adults, with 267,000 patients aged 18 and over prescribed the medicines, a rise of 40 per cent since 2024.

Prescribing increased around 18 per cent among children.

Promoting the upcoming documentary, Dr Sami Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, said: 'We've replaced corporal punishment with giving [children] a pill.'

Channel 4 says the largest group of children receiving ADHD medication is those aged between ten and 14.

Commenting on his role in the film, Dr Pemberton said: 'As a psychiatrist, I've watched ADHD go from a diagnosis that was only occasionally made and after careful assessment, to one that is increasingly demanded and dispensed, and I wanted to understand why.

'There's no doubt that the people seeking these diagnoses are genuinely struggling; that isn't in question.

'What the film asks is whether ADHD is really the best explanation for that struggle and my hope is that we come away with permission to ask better questions about what modern life is doing to all of us.'

Promotion of the documentary comes amid concern about a deadly side effect of medication prescribed for the condition.

Earlier this month campaigners warned that many patients starting on ADHD medication may have undiagnosed heart defects – which affect around one in 300 people – putting them at risk of complications triggered by the drugs.

The warning came less than a year after an inquest concluded that a 28-year-old City finance worker's death was linked to his stimulant ADHD medication.

Jacob Wooderson, from London, suffered sudden arrhythmic death syndrome – when a young and seemingly healthy person dies of cardiac arrest – shortly after his dose of Elvanse, also known as lisdexamfetamine, was increased.

Elvanse was listed as a cause of his death. He had been diagnosed with ADHD six months earlier.