Phil Anderton, ADHD 360 Managing Director: “I am wholeheartedly committed to making a lasting difference in the lives of individuals with ADHD.”

ADHD 360 was founded in truth over 20 years ago, when Phil Anderton met Lisa Mangle and they both realized they shared a passion for altering the trajectory for changing the lives, for the better, of people with ADHD. Phil a serving senior police officer in the UK, and Lisa a highly regarded advanced nurse practitioner specializing in ADHD for the NHS, agreed wholeheartedly that ‘things had to change’ and ‘not enough was being done’. Both continued to work together for a common good, Phil to reduce the number of people with ADHD entering the criminal justice system, and Lisa seeking to improve clinical understanding of the disorder across clinical teams. Fast forward to 2016, some 7 years ago, and they found themselves on a research project, led by Phil, for a mutual employer from the Pharmaceutical industry identifying what excellence looked like in an ADHD clinic. By now Phil had retired from the police, had been a management consultant for PwC and was working independently across healthcare to improve standards for patients throughout.  

The pair likened the challenge of improving long established nationally provided clinical processes as ‘pushing water uphill:  with your fingers open’. In one area they found a waiting list of 35 years, in others they found so much process ‘waste’ in terms of time and resources that they were shocked into taking action. Aligning with an emerging young clinician that had partaken in writing the new, and still current, national guidelines on ADHD, Jen Lewis-Neill, the three set up ADHD 360, to change people’s lives and ‘do it properly’. Christmas Eve 2018 saw the organization formally created and the journey commenced in reality. Soon joined by Samantha, now Phil’s wife, the organization started to take shape and define what excellence truly looked like in an ADHD clinical setting. Some people want to think outside the box, these influencers of change decided to reshape the box, and create a process based, workflow system that harnessed technology, and created the virtual hospital, delivering services to the patient’s front room.

In conversation with Phil Anderton, Managing Director of ADHD 360

Q. Can you explain ADHD 360’s services in brief?

Technology enabled, cloud based, ground breaking IT platform and a passion to focus, empathize and impute quality became the trademark of ‘360. Overtime, at the insistence and request of the UK NHS, ADHD 360 has provided contracted services to this national institution that celebrates 75 years in 2023. The disrupter is turning in to an influencer in under 5 years. With a capacity to assess and treat 1,000 new patients a month, the clinic is the largest in Europe.

Q. How has the perception of ADHD evolved over the years, and how has your company contributed to this change?

20 years ago, ADHD was seen as a ‘Naughty Boy Syndrome’, patients were believed, wrongly, to grow out of it, women and girls were excluded from referral criteria and adults couldn’t have ADHD because children grew out of it. The modern day perspective still has some cultural barriers based on those dated values to overcome, but often services have a more relevant thought process to who may have ADHD and require treatment. ADHD 360 has a patient mix of 50/50 men and women and we treat from the age of 5 to, currently, 76. ‘360 have removed barriers to access for women, treat the female patient with a unique approach to female hormone balances, and champion that children do not have to be ‘naughty’ to need ADHD related help.

Q. Could you share some notable success stories or case studies where ADHD360 made a significant impact on a client?

The list is endless, literally. The school child on the brink of exclusion at age 5, turning into a star achiever, the male middle-aged man at risk of losing his job, now re-energized and delivering well to his potential, the 70+ man being a ‘much better Grandpa than, in his words, I was a son or Dad!’

Q. How important is research and data analysis in shaping your approach to addressing ADHD, and what partnerships or collaborations have you engaged in to further this mission?

Our working life, life in general really is data-driven, and Big Data forms the backbone of our decision-making. Our IT platform is the most comprehensive tool in this marketplace. Accessed by the patient, the clinician, and the admin team, updated in real time and managing workflow and processes through controls, that system is data rich and a decision-making tool. Where a lot of digitized tools capture matters on computers but retain analogue behaviors, Chrysalis takes the digital world by the neck and maximizes on the benefits to the patient, decision makers and regulators who require, seemingly, endless data for assurance. With ease.

Q. What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs who aim to make a positive impact on society, particularly in the field of mental health and neurodiversity?

Don’t let the drive for perfection arrest progress, be prepared to fail, change and amend what you do, and listen to the feedback. 

Q. How do you market your services?

ADHD 360 are true exponents of digital marketing, we embrace social media and we run on word of mouth and reputations of the founders built over 20 years+.

Q. Do you have any new services launching soon?

We have recently launched an Autism service under the same umbrella and cultural feel, Autism 360 and we are slowly building that service to scale.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

We are further enhancing the digital tools and building appropriate use of AI, defined as Augmented Intelligence, into our workflow. There are incredible savings in terms of time, and improvements in terms of quality to be made by tracking and utilizing the digital revolution.

Meet the leader behind the success of ADHD 360

Phil Anderton is an agent for change with, as his team describes him, and endless passion for doing it ‘right’, and quickly. Completely intolerant of injustice, Phil is a fighter for what is appropriately ‘right’ and campaigns across the ADHD environment for change for good. In his words though he says ‘It’s a team effort, it sounds trite and patronizing but it is not. I am just a guy that left school with a cycling proficiency certificate and clutch of minor academic achievements. His wife will point to his degree in business, his Master’s in education and his PhD in workforce competence measurement, smile, and acknowledge that he is always working and always thinking.

“Don’t let the drive for perfection arrest progress, be prepared to fail, change and amend what you do, and listen to the feedback.”