How long are ADHD assessment waiting lists in the UK?
Waits vary enormously by area — the service one postcode over can be running to a different timetable entirely — and they have grown in recent years. We do not publish a number here on purpose: the figures circulating online are usually a provider's own marketing and are out of date by the time you read them. Your GP, your local NHS service or your Integrated Care Board can tell you the current wait where you live, and it is worth asking for it in writing. The wait does not have to be empty time. What a clinician can do in one appointment depends almost entirely on what you can show them about the months before it.
What is NHS 'Right to Choose'?
In England, when your GP refers you for a first outpatient appointment, you usually have a legal right to choose which provider carries it out — including independent providers that hold an NHS contract, not only your local service. It sits in the NHS Choice Framework and it is NHS-funded, so there is no fee to the family. The catch is age: providers set their own ranges, and several of the best-known Right to Choose names assess adults only. Check that before you ask for the referral, not after. Our Right to Choose guide sets out who currently takes children.
Does Right to Choose apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
No. Right to Choose is part of the NHS Choice Framework for England only. Families in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different arrangements, and the route depends on where you live rather than on a national right you can name. Ask your GP what the referral pathway is in your area and whether there is any choice of provider within it.
How do I ask my GP for an ADHD referral?
Ask for a longer appointment if the practice offers one, and go in with it written down. Describe what you see at home, what school sees, and how long it has been going on — a GP appointment is short, and a written summary is far easier to act on than a description given from memory under time pressure. Then ask three specific things: for a referral for an ADHD assessment; whether Right to Choose applies and, if so, name the provider you have checked; and for the practice to confirm the referral was sent and to whom. Keep the date. Referrals do go astray, and nobody will tell you if one has.
What if my GP won't refer us?
It happens, and it is usually unfamiliarity rather than policy — particularly with Right to Choose, which many practices see rarely. Ask what would need to be different for a referral to be appropriate, and ask for that answer to be recorded in your child's notes. It is reasonable to ask for the request to be reviewed by another GP in the practice. Evidence from school often changes the conversation, because it shows the difficulties are not confined to home. If you are asking under Right to Choose, saying so explicitly, and naming the provider and the service, is often the whole difference.
Private or NHS assessment — which should I choose?
That is a personal decision, and there is one practical difference worth knowing before you spend money. A private assessment is one you pay for, and the wait depends entirely on the provider, so ask them for their current one rather than assuming. If medication is later recommended, continuing it on the NHS normally depends on a shared care agreement between the private clinician and your GP. Practices are not obliged to enter one, and some decline. Ask your GP where they stand on shared care before you book anything private. Whichever route you take, check the provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission, and the same record of behaviour, sleep and observations is useful evidence either way.
What happens after the referral is sent?
Most services triage referrals before adding anyone to a list, and a referral that arrives without enough detail can be returned to the GP — which costs weeks, and often nobody tells the family. Once accepted you may be sent questionnaire packs to complete, and the service will usually want one from your child's school as well. It is worth telling the school early that this is coming, so the form is not sitting in a staffroom pigeonhole. If you have heard nothing several weeks after the referral, chase the practice and the provider separately; each will often assume the other has it.
Do we need a diagnosis before school can help?
No, and this is the single most useful thing to know while you wait. Under the SEND Code of Practice, support in school is based on a child's needs, not on a diagnosis — a school should not wait for one before putting help in place. Ask for a meeting with the SENCO, describe what you are seeing, and ask what can be tried now and how it will be reviewed. A parent can also request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment from the local authority directly. None of that depends on an appointment date you do not yet have.