NHS Right to Choose for ADHD: how it works in 2026 (adults & children)
Right to Choose is your legal right to pick which NHS-contracted provider carries out your — or your child's — ADHD assessment, at no cost. Here's how it really works in 2026, including current provider wait times.
What Right to Choose is
Right to Choose (often written RtC) is a legal right under the NHS Constitution for England. For most non-urgent referrals — and an ADHD assessment counts — you can choose which provider carries out your first outpatient appointment, as long as that provider holds an NHS standard contract for the service. In practice this means you can ask your GP to refer you to an independent provider running an NHS-funded ADHD pathway, rather than only your local NHS trust. The assessment is still paid for by the NHS: you do not pay privately, and if you are diagnosed the same clinical standards apply. Right to Choose applies in England only — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different arrangements, covered below.
Who qualifies
You generally qualify if you are registered with an NHS GP practice in England and are being referred for a first outpatient appointment with a non-urgent service. You do not need to be at the top of a local waiting list first, and you do not need to justify why you want a particular provider. The provider you choose must hold a qualifying NHS contract for ADHD assessment. Exclusions exist — urgent and emergency care, and certain specialist pathways — but a routine ADHD referral is squarely within the right.
Right to Choose for a child
Yes — Right to Choose applies to children and young people too. The legal right belongs to the patient, exercised by a parent or guardian for an under-16. The practical route is the same: a GP referral naming a provider that holds an NHS contract for children's ADHD assessment. Two important differences: fewer providers hold NHS contracts for under-18 assessment than for adults, so the choice is narrower, and some providers assess children only from a minimum age (commonly 6 or 8). If your child is already on a local CAMHS or neurodevelopmental waiting list, a new RtC referral is usually treated as a new referral — ask the provider how they handle transfers before switching, because you may lose your place in the original queue.
How to ask your GP (step by step)
Step 1: pick your provider first — GPs are not expected to keep a list, so arrive with a name. Step 2: book a routine GP appointment and say you would like an ADHD assessment referral under your NHS right to choose, naming the provider. Step 3: the GP sends the referral (often via the NHS e-Referral system); the provider then contacts you with an assessment date. Step 4: you are assessed at NHS expense, and if diagnosed, titration and prescribing follow on the NHS. One thing you cannot do is self-refer: the route runs through a GP (or occasionally another NHS clinician). If a GP is unfamiliar with Right to Choose, NHS England's published patient-choice guidance confirms the legal right — it can help to mention it.
Can your GP refuse?
If the criteria are met, generally no — GPs are required to support patient choice for eligible referrals. A GP can decline if the referral itself is not clinically appropriate, but not simply because they prefer the local service. If you are refused, ask for the reason in writing, and contact your ICB's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Be aware of one honest wrinkle: some providers periodically pause new RtC referrals for funding reasons (see the next section) — a 'no' may reflect that pause rather than your eligibility.
What ICB funding caps mean in 2026 (read this before choosing)
This is where 2026 differs from the Right-to-Choose boom years. Demand has risen sharply — NHS figures pointed to around 735,000 open ADHD referrals in England by late 2025 — and many Integrated Care Boards now use Activity Management Plans or Indicative Activity Plans (IAPs) that cap the number of RtC assessments they fund with each provider per year. South West London ICB, for example, applied IAPs to every one of its RtC ADHD providers from July 2026. The caps do not abolish the legal right — but when a provider hits its ceiling, it may pause new NHS-funded referrals or its wait may lengthen. The practical consequence: WHICH provider you name now matters more than ever. A capped provider can mean months of extra wait; an uncapped one with capacity can see you far sooner. That is exactly what the live wait-time table below is for.
Does Right to Choose guarantee a quicker assessment?
No — and ICBs now say so explicitly. Right to Choose guarantees choice, not speed. For a while RtC was reliably faster than most local NHS services; that advantage has narrowed as demand grew. Some RtC providers still offer materially shorter waits than local trusts, others now run waits of a year or more. Waits also move: a provider quoting 8 weeks in spring can be quoting 30 by autumn. Compare current waits at the moment you refer — not a screenshot from a forum post six months ago.
The second wait nobody mentions: titration
Getting assessed is wait number one. If you are diagnosed and choose medication, there is a second wait — for titration, the supervised period of finding your right dose — and it can be substantial. It has also been affected by the national ADHD medication shortage, which has run since late 2023 and is structural (single-source manufacturing and Home Office controlled-drug quotas). When you compare providers, ask about time-to-titration as well as time-to-assessment: a provider with a slightly longer assessment wait but a short titration queue can get you to treatment sooner overall.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Right to Choose is England-only. In Wales, there is no equivalent legal right to choose an ADHD provider; referrals follow local health board pathways, and waits vary by board. Scotland likewise has no RtC — assessment runs through NHS Scotland boards, and adults sometimes consider self-funding (private adult ADHD assessments in Scotland typically cost £500–£1,500). Northern Ireland has its own trust-based pathways. If you live outside England, your realistic options are the local NHS pathway, or a private assessment — our comparison covers both.
Autism assessments and Right to Choose
Right to Choose is not ADHD-specific — it applies to consultant-led NHS services generally, and several providers hold NHS contracts for autism assessment (some for combined ADHD-and-autism pathways). The provider list for autism is shorter than for ADHD, and children's autism contracts are scarcer still. If you are seeking an autism or combined assessment, check the provider's NHS contract covers it before asking your GP — our provider profiles flag which services each provider is contracted for.
Already waiting somewhere? Think before switching
If you are on one provider's list — NHS or RtC — and switch to another, you normally join the back of the new queue, and a provider may require a fresh referral. Switching from a private assessment to the NHS (or vice versa) can also mean being re-assessed. None of this makes switching wrong when a wait has blown out, but it raises the cost of choosing badly the first time. Ten minutes comparing providers before you refer is worth more than any amount of queue-jumping afterwards.
The bottom line
Right to Choose remains a genuine, free, legal route to an NHS ADHD assessment in England — for adults and children. What has changed in 2026 is that funding caps have made provider choice consequential: the difference between a capped provider and one with capacity can be most of a year. Check the live wait times below, pick a provider that is actually accepting referrals, and take the name to your GP.
Current Right to Choose provider wait times
Waits are provider-published estimates and move frequently — always confirm directly before asking your GP for the referral.
- Xyla Services
- Published wait
- 0 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- HealthHarmonie Minds
- Published wait
- 1 week
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Healthcare Central London
- Published wait
- 1 week
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Insight Diagnostics
- Published wait
- 1 week
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Mentalwell
- Published wait
- 1 week
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Online
- Well Life ADHD Clinic
- Published wait
- 2 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- Clinical Partners
- Published wait
- 4 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- CARE ADHD
- Published wait
- 4 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- Skylight Psychiatry
- Published wait
- 4 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- Dr J and Colleagues
- Published wait
- 4 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- Harley Street Mental Health
- Published wait
- 4 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- ADHD 360
- Published wait
- 6 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Online
- Psicon
- Published wait
- 6 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- The Owl Centre
- Published wait
- 6 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Berkeley Psychiatrists
- Published wait
- 6 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Atrom Mindcare
- Published wait
- 6 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Hybrid
- ProblemShared
- Published wait
- 8 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Online
- Modality LLP
- Published wait
- 8 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Innovate ADHD
- Published wait
- 10 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Online
- The Retreat Clinics
- Published wait
- 10 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Psychiatry-UK
- Published wait
- 12 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Online
- Harrow Health
- Published wait
- 12 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Yes
- Format
- Online
- Sinclair-Strong Consultants
- Published wait
- 12 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- The Aspen Clinic
- Published wait
- 26 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Adult ADHD Northwest
- Published wait
- 26 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- RTN Mental Health
- Published wait
- 37 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Oakdale Group
- Published wait
- 78 weeks
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
- Montrose Health Group
- Published wait
- Not published
- Accepting RtC referrals
- Not confirmed
- Shared care
- Sometimes
- Format
- Hybrid
Not sure which to pick?
Answer a few questions and the matcher will shortlist Right to Choose providers that fit your situation — including current waits.
Find my RtC matchWaiting times by city
Local guides covering waiting times for the cities we have the most provider data on.
- Waiting times in London
- Waiting times in Manchester
- Waiting times in Birmingham
- Waiting times in Leeds
- Waiting times in Bristol
- Waiting times in Glasgow
Or browse the full list via any guides index entry below.
Frequently asked
- Can I use Right to Choose for my child's ADHD assessment?
- Yes. Right to Choose applies to children, exercised by a parent or guardian. Fewer providers hold NHS contracts for under-18 ADHD assessment, so the choice is narrower than for adults, and minimum ages vary by provider — check before asking your GP for the referral.
- Can I self-refer under Right to Choose?
- No. Right to Choose referrals go through your NHS GP (or occasionally another NHS clinician). What you can do is choose the provider and bring its name and referral details to your appointment — you do not need your GP's permission to choose, only the referral itself.
- Can my GP refuse a Right to Choose referral?
- If the referral is clinically appropriate and the provider holds a qualifying NHS contract, generally no. Ask for any refusal in writing and contact your ICB's PALS. But note some providers periodically pause new RtC referrals when ICB funding caps bite — that is a funding pause, not a judgement on your eligibility.
- Does Right to Choose work in Wales or Scotland?
- No — it is a legal right in England only. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own referral pathways without an equivalent choice right. Residents there can use their local NHS pathway or consider a private assessment.
- Is Right to Choose faster than my local NHS service?
- Sometimes — but there is no guarantee, and ICBs now say this explicitly. Provider waits in 2026 range from a few weeks to well over a year, and funding caps can lengthen them mid-year. Compare current waits at the moment you refer.
- Does Right to Choose cover autism assessments?
- It can. Several providers hold NHS contracts for autism or combined ADHD-and-autism assessment, though the list is shorter than for ADHD alone. Check the specific provider's NHS contract covers the assessment you need.
- Will my prescriptions be free under Right to Choose?
- You pay the standard NHS prescription charge (£9.90 per item in England in 2026), or nothing if you are exempt or hold a Prescription Prepayment Certificate — the same as any NHS prescription.
- I'm already on an NHS waiting list — can I switch to Right to Choose?
- You can ask your GP for a new RtC referral, but you will normally join the new provider's queue from the bottom, and you may lose your place in the original one. Weigh the two waits honestly before switching.
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