What Right to Choose does not do

Six things this pathway is regularly said to do that it does not. Each one has a source behind it, and each one is a place people lose months.

The short version

It does not guarantee a quicker assessment, and an ICB says so in terms.
It does not oblige your GP to refer you.
It does not reach outside England, and it does not reach providers without a qualifying NHS contract.
It does not override a provider's own inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Every one of the misreadings below is reasonable if you have only heard the phrase second hand. Each one also costs time, which on this pathway is the expensive currency.

It does not promise a faster assessment

NHS South West London ICB answers this on its own page: while waiting times can differ between NHS and private providers, and being able to choose the provider may mean you can choose one to receive an assessment more quickly, Right To Choose does not guarantee quicker assessment.

Choosing well can help. Nothing about the choice converts that into a promise, and commissioners now cap funded volumes behind each provider.

It does not make your GP refer you

Regulation 39(6) treats a provider as clinically appropriate only in the opinion of the person making the referral, and NHS South West London ICB's step list has the GP deciding whether a referral for an assessment is appropriate before any choice is discussed.

It does not let you refer yourself

NHS West and North London ICB states that only a GP can make this type of referral. Regulation 38 confirms it from the other direction, limiting an elective referral to a GP, a general dental practitioner or an optometrist.

It does not reach every provider

The choice runs to providers holding a qualifying NHS Standard Contract, signed and in effect before the referral date, commissioning the service you actually need. A clinic without one can assess you privately and is not one of your choices under the regulation.

It does not override a provider's own criteria

NHS South West London ICB is explicit that although anyone registered with a GP in England is legally entitled to access Right To Choose, each provider will have their own inclusion and exclusion criteria, and gives a moderate to severe learning disability or an addiction as examples of needs that can exclude someone from a particular provider.

It does not apply outside England

The duty binds NHS commissioners in England, and the NHS states that the associated waiting-time right applies only to services commissioned by the NHS in England. Within England the reach is wide: an ICB describes it as choosing an independent provider through the NHS from anywhere in England.

What it does do

One thing, and it is worth having. When a referral is being made, you choose who it goes to, rather than being sent to whichever local service happens to hold the contract. On a pathway where providers differ sharply in whether they prescribe, review and accept people like you, that choice is worth making carefully.

Questions people ask about this

What are the limits of NHS Right to Choose?

It does not promise a faster assessment, does not oblige a GP to refer you, does not permit self-referral, does not reach providers without a qualifying NHS contract, does not override a provider's own inclusion and exclusion criteria, and does not apply outside England. What it does is give you the choice of which provider a referral goes to once one is being made.

Is Right to Choose worth using if it does not speed things up?

That depends on what you need after the assessment. Providers differ in whether they prescribe, whether they run titration and whether they offer annual reviews, and NHS South West London ICB warns that some only offer an assessment or diagnosis. The value of the choice is in matching those differences to your situation rather than in timing.