Annual reviews and ongoing care

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.

The short version

  • NHS South West London ICB states that if your provider stops offering annual reviews you will need a new assessment with a new provider.
  • Either route to that new assessment, NHS or private, puts you on a waiting list.
  • Not every provider offers ongoing care; some only assess.
  • Ask about the review arrangement before the referral, not after the diagnosis.

Ongoing ADHD treatment involves periodic review, and the question of who carries out that review is decided, in effect, when you pick a provider. It is rarely presented that way, and the consequence of getting it wrong arrives years later.

The failure mode, in an ICB's own words

NHS South West London ICB spells it out: if your provider stops offering annual reviews, you will need a new assessment with a new provider. You can go through the NHS or Right to Choose or pay privately for one. Either way, you will go on a waiting list.

So an arrangement that felt settled can require you to repeat the hardest part of the process, at a moment when you are already on medication and dependent on continuity.

Not every provider offers ongoing care at all

NHS West and North London ICB describes the fork. If the provider offers ongoing care, such as follow-up appointments and post-diagnosis support, or medication if diagnosed with ADHD, you will receive that care from them. If the provider does not offer ongoing care, your GP will discuss next steps with you, which may include joining the NHS waiting list for treatment or support.

That second branch is a second queue, entered after a diagnosis rather than before one. It is the reason a provider that assesses quickly is not automatically the better choice.

NHS South West London ICB adds the prescribing version of the same warning: not all Right to Choose providers can start medicine or prescribe it, and some only offer an assessment or diagnosis.

What to ask before the referral is sent

The last one is a question for the practice rather than the provider, and NHS West and North London ICB advises asking it: confirm whether your GP would accept the provider's notice for shared care should you be prescribed medication.

  • Does the provider offer annual reviews, and for how long has it been running them?
  • Does it prescribe, and does it manage a titration period?
  • What happens if it later stops offering reviews for patients in my area?
  • Would my GP practice accept shared care from this provider?

Questions people ask about this

What happens if my ADHD provider stops offering annual reviews?

NHS South West London ICB states that you will need a new assessment with a new provider, that you can go through the NHS or Right to Choose or pay privately for one, and that either way you will go on a waiting list. This is why the review arrangement is worth asking about at the point of choosing a provider.

Does every Right to Choose provider offer follow-up care?

No. NHS West and North London ICB explains that where a provider offers ongoing care you receive it from them, and where it does not, your GP will discuss next steps, which may include joining the NHS waiting list for treatment or support. NHS South West London ICB adds that some providers only offer an assessment or diagnosis and cannot prescribe.

Where this came from

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