Every guide below is written for England, where the legal right in regulation 39 of the
Standing Rules Regulations 2012 applies. The pathway needs a GP referral, so it is not a
self-referral route, and it does not run in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The guides
are grouped by the stage they answer, roughly in the order the questions arrive.
One thing, precisely: a choice of who assesses you, at the moment a referral is being made. Not the referral itself, not a date, and not a provider outside the contract net.
Part 8 of the Standing Rules Regulations 2012 contains the whole thing: regulation 38 defines the referral, 39 creates the duty, 40 and 41 remove services and people from it.
The NHS calls it a legal right and a regulation imposes a real duty. It is also secondary legislation, conditional on a contract, and it carries no timing promise. All of those are true together.
Your choice reaches providers that hold a specific kind of contract, defined in four parts by regulation 39(8). That definition is also where the current rationing happens.
Two lists exclude people from the choice: one in the regulations, one written by each provider. The second one is longer, less visible and the more common reason a referral goes nowhere.
The pathway starts at a GP practice in England. Without that registration there is no referrer, and without a referrer the choice in regulation 39 never opens.
The duty is imposed on commissioners in England by an English statutory instrument, and the NHS says its related rights apply only to services commissioned by the NHS in England.
Regulation 40(2) removes any service where it is necessary to provide urgent care, and the NHS lists urgent, emergency or crisis treatment among the situations with no legal right to choose.
Providers publish a pack for you to take to your GP. It is preparation, not permission, and understanding what it is stops a common and costly misunderstanding.
The regulations exclude a short list of people. Providers exclude a longer one, written by each provider, published inconsistently, and applied after the referral arrives.
Some providers assess only online. An ICB tells patients to understand the format before choosing, and NICE describes an assessment that spans the settings of everyday life, a full developmental and psychiatric history, and observer reports and assessment of the person's mental state.
No source this site could read gives a waiting time for a named area of England. What exists is NHS England Digital's national referral count, a set of reported ranges from the ADHD taskforce, and two local checks that beat any national average.
NHS England expects commissioners to support people on the list and to signpost local organisations. Whether that exists near you is a question worth asking out loud.
Some systems review their lists, and NHS England has warned in the same breath that untested triage is likely to present risks including potential harm to patients.
NICE reserves it to named professions, on the basis of a full clinical and psychosocial assessment. No questionnaire, screener or website can do it, including anything on this site.
NICE describes a specific route for adults previously treated as children who still have symptoms, and it is worth naming in the GP appointment because it is a different starting point.
Who reviews you each year is part of what you choose at referral, and it is more fragile than it looks. If a provider stops offering reviews, the fallback is a new assessment and a new waiting list.
Shared care moves routine prescribing from a specialist to your GP practice once you are stable. It is an arrangement the practice has to accept, which is why it is worth asking about early.
One ICB states Right to Choose covers ongoing prescriptions when a practice declines. NHS England's final ADHD Taskforce report says many shared care arrangements are no longer in place, so plan for both answers.
Shortages have affected this pathway and providers and commissioners have said so. What is in short supply changes, so the current answer comes from your prescriber and your pharmacy.
The assessment is paid for by the NHS. What remains is the prescription charge at the counter, and the cost of the route you take if this pathway is closed to you.
The recurring cost of ADHD medication in England is the per-item charge. The NHS publishes two prepayment options and states the break-even point for each in its own words.
The comparison people make is price against speed. The comparison that matters is what happens to prescribing afterwards, and what the NHS will accept if you come back.
Commissioners now agree in advance how much assessment activity they will fund with each provider. Your right to choose that provider is unchanged. The queue behind it is not.
A taskforce reported, NHS England issued prioritisation advice, and commissioners started capping funded activity. The entitlement did not move; the capacity behind it was rationed.
Local rules differ and move, and no national list of them is reliable. Two checks give you the current answer: your integrated care board's own page and your GP practice.
Population prevalence and recorded prevalence are far apart, and the gap between them is the clearest available explanation of why the queue keeps growing.
NHS England set up an independent taskforce, which reported in two parts: findings in June 2025 and recommendations in November 2025. Here is what each part says to someone waiting.