Right to Choose · Adult ADHD
Right to Choose for adult ADHD assessment
NHS adult ADHD assessment waits now stretch past five years in many areas of England. NHS Right to Choose is the lawful route that lets you ask your GP to refer you to a faster, NHS-funded provider instead.
Written and reviewed by Mustafa Ghafouri (MBChB, MSc) ·
What Right to Choose means for ADHD assessment
Under the NHS Constitution, every patient in England can choose the provider for their first outpatient appointment. Adult ADHD assessment counts as a first outpatient appointment. That means you do not have to accept your local NHS service if the wait is long. You can ask your GP to refer you, on the NHS and at no cost to you, to any provider that holds an NHS Standard Contract for adult ADHD assessment.
The provider does the assessment. If you receive a diagnosis, the provider also handles titration and ongoing prescribing, usually under a shared-care arrangement with your GP.
Honest caveat about our data
HospitalWaits V1 covers the 18 NHS specialties published in the monthly Referral-to-Treatment (RTT) dataset. Adult ADHD assessment sits outside that dataset and is not yet on our comparison tool. We will add mental-health pathway data in V2.
The legal mechanism, however, applies today. This page exists so the long-tail Right-to-Choose search lands somewhere useful instead of bouncing.
Named adult-ADHD Right-to-Choose providers
The following providers publicly hold NHS Standard Contracts for adult ADHD assessment in parts of England. We list them as factual examples, not endorsements. Coverage and current wait vary by ICB area — confirm with the provider directly:
- Psychiatry-UK — long-standing R2C contract for adult ADHD assessment.
- ADHD 360 — adult and child ADHD assessment with NHS Right-to-Choose routes in most ICBs.
- Clinical Partners — adult ADHD assessment under NHS Standard Contract in selected areas.
Other providers exist. Ask each one to confirm in writing that your ICB is covered by their NHS Standard Contract before your GP submits the referral.
What to say at the GP appointment
The wording below mirrors NHS England's own Patient Choice guidance and gives the GP the cleanest possible referral path:
“I would like to exercise my NHS Right to Choose for my first outpatient assessment. I've checked, and [Provider Name] holds an NHS Standard Contract for adult ADHD assessment in our ICB. Please refer me there via the NHS e-Referral Service.”
If the GP is unfamiliar with Right to Choose, point them to the NHS England Patient Choice guidance. Practices receive the same referral payment whether the provider is the local NHS trust or a Right-to-Choose provider.
What about shared care for medication?
After diagnosis, the Right-to-Choose provider will titrate your medication. They will then ask your NHS GP to take over prescribing under a shared-care agreement. Some GP practices decline shared care. That is a separate problem from Right to Choose itself and is outside the scope of this page — but it is the most common stumbling block patients report after a successful R2C assessment. Discuss shared-care policy with your practice before you start the referral.
Next step
Draft your GP letter
Use our free letter generator to produce a Right-to-Choose referral request with your chosen provider already filled in. Print it, take it to your GP appointment, or email it ahead.
Open the letter generatorRead next
- The full Right to Choose explainer — covers the legal basis, when it applies, and when it doesn't.
- What to do if your GP refuses a Right-to-Choose referral.
- In-depth article: adult ADHD assessment and Right to Choose (forthcoming — link will activate when the article ships).
This page gives general information about NHS patient choice for adult ADHD assessment. It is not medical or legal advice. For questions about your own referral, speak to your GP or contact NHS England.