What a Right to Choose referral pack contains

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 short version

A referral pack prepares paperwork. Only a GP can make a Right to Choose referral.
Completing a provider's online form does not put you on a waiting list.
Check the pack's age criteria and service scope before you fill it in.

Most Right to Choose providers publish a document set aimed at your GP. It usually contains a covering letter explaining the pathway, a referral form, and sometimes the provider's criteria. The intention is helpful. The effect, for a lot of people, is a months-long misunderstanding.

The misunderstanding

Filling in a provider's form feels like applying. It is not. NHS West and North London ICB puts the rule plainly: Right To Choose lets adults or children choose an independent provider through the NHS from anywhere in England, and only a GP can make this type of referral.

So a completed pack sitting in your email is not a referral, is not a queue position, and will not generate contact from the provider. Until your GP sends it, nothing has started.

What to check before you fill one in

Age scope. ADHD 360 states that it can only accept Right to Choose referrals for children aged 8 plus and adults 16 years and older; Psychiatry-UK describes its scheme service as ADHD assessments for adults aged 18 and over.
Service scope. A provider may hold a contract for some services and not others, which is why NHS Black Country ICB publishes a provider table with separate yes or no columns for adult ADHD, adult autism, children's ADHD and children's autism.
Exclusion criteria. NHS South West London ICB warns that each provider has its own, and gives a moderate to severe learning disability or an addiction as examples of pre-existing needs that can make a provider unsuitable.
What happens after a diagnosis. Whether the provider prescribes, whether it offers follow-up, and whether it runs annual reviews.

What your GP does with it

Your GP decides whether a referral is appropriate, then discusses provider options with you, then sends the referral to your chosen provider, and the provider contacts you to arrange an assessment. That is the sequence NHS South West London ICB publishes, and the pack slots into the third step of it rather than replacing the first.

Some referrals travel through the NHS e-Referral Service. If you need to reach that service yourself, the line is 0345 608 8888, open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, and 8am to 4pm at weekends and bank holidays.

Questions people ask about this

I filled in a provider's Right to Choose form. Am I on the waiting list?

Not until your GP sends a referral. NHS West and North London ICB states that only a GP can make this type of referral, so a completed provider pack is paperwork prepared for that appointment rather than an application. If you have heard nothing after completing a form, the next step is the GP appointment, not the provider.

Does my GP have to use the provider's referral pack?

No. Practices use their own systems and some refer through the NHS e-Referral Service. The pack exists to make the referral easier to write, not to impose a format. What matters is that the referral is made and goes to the provider you chose.