NHS Right to Choose for ADHD — the free route, step by step

1 What Right to Choose is

In England, you have a legal right to choose who carries out your NHS assessment. If the wait where you live is long, you can ask to be referred to any provider that holds an NHS contract for ADHD assessment — including many private clinics — and the NHS pays for it. That means the assessment is free to you, even at a private clinic. This right comes from the NHS Choice Framework, and it applies to a first outpatient assessment such as ADHD.

2 Who can use it

You can usually use Right to Choose if you are registered with a GP in England and are being referred for your first assessment. It covers adults, and in many areas children and young people too — check the individual provider, as this varies. Right to Choose is an England-only right: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run different systems, so if you live there this particular route will not apply (your GP can explain local options).

View Right to Choose providers and current waits

3 The steps, one by one

1. Check the provider offers it — make sure the clinic holds an NHS Right to Choose contract for ADHD; NeuroCompare marks the ones that do.
2. Choose your provider — compare waits, format and shared-care on NeuroCompare.
3. Ask your GP to refer you there under Right to Choose (wording below).
4. The provider contacts you to book once the referral is sent.
5. After your assessment, if diagnosed, discuss medication and moving prescriptions to your GP under shared care.

4 What to say to your GP (copy-and-paste)

“Under the NHS Choice Framework (Right to Choose), I would like to be referred to [provider name] for an NHS-funded ADHD assessment. They hold an NHS contract for this. Please could you send the referral to them?”

You can bring this to an appointment or send it through your practice's online system.

5 Waiting times and what to expect

Waits vary a lot between providers, and the Right to Choose wait can differ from a clinic's private wait — so always confirm the current figure with the provider. Compare current waits on NeuroCompare before you name a clinic to your GP, so you choose the shortest realistic route.

6 Medication and shared care

If you are diagnosed and start medication, the clinic usually handles the first few months (this is called titration — finding the right dose). Once you are stable, your care can often move to your GP under a shared-care agreement, so you get prescriptions locally. Not every GP practice accepts shared care, so it is worth asking yours early.

7 If your GP says no

Some GPs are unfamiliar with Right to Choose or hesitant. If that happens: ask politely for the reason in writing, mention that Right to Choose is part of the NHS Choice Framework, and ask them to reconsider. If needed, you can raise it with the practice manager or your local Integrated Care Board (ICB). You are within your rights to ask.

8 Right to Choose for a child

Right to Choose applies to children and young people too — the right belongs to the patient and is exercised by a parent or guardian for an under-16. The route is the same: a GP referral naming a provider that holds an NHS contract for children's ADHD assessment. Two differences matter: fewer providers hold NHS contracts for under-18s, so the choice is narrower, and some assess children only from a minimum age (often 6 or 8). If your child is already on a local CAMHS or neurodevelopmental list, a new Right to Choose referral is usually treated as a new referral — ask the provider how they handle transfers before switching, as you may lose your place in the original queue.

9 What ICB funding caps mean in 2026 (read this before choosing)

This is where 2026 differs from the earlier Right to Choose 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 that cap how many Right to Choose assessments they fund with each provider per year. South West London ICB, for example, applied these caps to all its Right to Choose ADHD providers from July 2026. The caps do not remove your legal right — but when a provider hits its ceiling it may pause new NHS-funded referrals, or its wait may lengthen. So which provider you name matters more than ever: a capped one can mean months of extra wait, an uncapped one with capacity can see you far sooner. That is what the wait-time table above is for.

10 Does Right to Choose guarantee a quicker assessment?

No — and ICBs now say so plainly. Right to Choose guarantees choice, not speed. It used to be reliably faster than most local NHS services; that gap has narrowed as demand has grown. Some providers still offer much shorter waits than local trusts; others now run waits of a year or more, and waits move through the year. Always compare current waits at the moment you refer, not a figure from an old forum post.

11 Titration: the second wait, and the medication shortage

Getting assessed is the first wait. If you are diagnosed and choose medication, there is a second wait — titration, the supervised period of finding your right dose — and it can be long. It has also been affected by the national ADHD medication shortage running since late 2023. 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.

12 Autism and combined assessments under 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, some for combined ADHD-and-autism pathways. The list is shorter than for ADHD, and children's autism contracts are scarcer still. If you want an autism or combined assessment, check the provider's NHS contract covers it before asking your GP. See our separate guide to Right to Choose for autism at /guides/right-to-choose-autism-pathway.

13 Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Right to Choose is England-only. Wales has no equivalent legal right; referrals follow local health-board pathways. Scotland likewise has no Right to Choose — assessment runs through NHS Scotland boards, and adults sometimes consider self-funding (private adult ADHD assessments 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.

14 Already waiting somewhere? Think before switching

If you are on one provider's list — NHS or Right to Choose — and switch to another, you normally join the back of the new queue, and the new provider may need a fresh referral. Switching between private and NHS 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 first time. A few minutes comparing providers before you refer is worth more than trying to queue-jump afterwards.