If you're an adult in the UK trying to get assessed for ADHD right now, the honest answer is: the route you take matters more than almost anything else about your case. The standard NHS pathway can run past eight years in parts of the country. A separate NHS mechanism — Right to Choose — can get a referral processed in around two weeks, using the same NHS funding, if your GP will make it and your local health board hasn't paused new bookings. This piece walks through what each route actually involves, what's changed recently, and what's worth doing if you're on a waiting list right now.
The standard NHS route
The default pathway starts the same way everywhere: a GP referral into your local ADHD or community mental health service. A GP can flag ADHD as a possibility and refer you on, but cannot diagnose it or prescribe ADHD medication independently.
What happens after that referral varies enormously by where you live. NHS England's own independent ADHD Taskforce, in its 2025 interim report, put the picture plainly: waits of "up to 4+ years for children" and "up to 8+ years for adults," with some areas reporting 10–15 years. In a national survey the Taskforce drew on, 40% of respondents reported waiting two years or more for an assessment.1 The Taskforce also flagged something worth knowing on its own terms: there are no complete national statistics on adult ADHD waiting times at all — the data NHS England collects is described as varied and incomplete, likely understating true demand rather than overstating it.1
None of that is a comment on the clinicians working inside local services. It's a demand-and-capacity problem NHS England itself has publicly acknowledged, which is exactly why a second, faster route through the same public system exists.
NHS Right to Choose — a faster route through the same system
Right to Choose isn't a private alternative to the NHS — it's a right, under the NHS constitution, for patients in England to ask to be referred to any NHS-commissioned provider for non-emergency care, rather than only the default local service. For ADHD, several independent providers (Psychiatry-UK and Clinical Partners among the largest) are commissioned this way and run assessment services entirely through this route, funded by the NHS rather than paid for privately.
As of publication, Clinical Partners reports the current wait to get an assessment appointment booked through Right to Choose at around two weeks, assuming pre-assessment questionnaires are completed promptly and there's no local pause in place. That's the assessment step specifically — a separate medication and titration service, once someone is diagnosed and prescribed, currently runs 8–10 months.2
Two caveats worth knowing before assuming this route is open to you. First, some Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) — the NHS bodies that fund care regionally — have paused new Right to Choose bookings entirely due to funding constraints, even while still accepting referrals onto a list; Birmingham and Solihull and Greater Manchester are examples cited as paused at time of writing.2 Second, eligibility is specific: you need to be 18 or older, registered with a GP in England (not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland), and you need to stay registered with an England-based GP for the whole process — moving your GP registration outside England mid-assessment or mid-treatment ends your eligibility.3 Self-referral isn't possible either way — a GP has to agree ADHD assessment is warranted and make the referral themselves.3
What the assessment process actually involves
However you get there, a proper adult ADHD assessment is not a short questionnaire. Right to Choose providers typically ask you to complete a validated self-report tool (commonly the ASRS) before your GP refers you, then run the specialist assessment itself as a structured clinical interview — usually over video call for Right to Choose and many private providers now — covering current symptoms, developmental history, and how attention and impulsivity actually show up across different parts of your life, not just whether you recognise a checklist.3
The private route
Paying privately is the fastest route to a diagnosis, typically weeks rather than months or years, but "fast" and "cheap" aren't the same thing, and the assessment fee is rarely the only cost. As a benchmark: a comparable London private practice lists adult ADHD assessment fees from roughly £690 for a virtual appointment up to £1,100 in person — before any follow-up titration or shared-care costs once medication is prescribed.4 Private providers still can't hand ongoing prescribing to a GP automatically either; that depends on the same shared-care question covered below, regardless of which route got you diagnosed.
Standard NHS vs. Right to Choose vs. private, at a glance
| Route | Typical wait for assessment | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard NHS | Up to 8+ years reported in some areas; no complete national data1 | Free at point of use |
| NHS Right to Choose | ~2 weeks to book, where not paused locally; medication service separately 8–10 months2 | Free at point of use (NHS-funded) |
| Private | Typically weeks | From roughly £690–£1,100+ for assessment alone4 |
After diagnosis: medication and shared care
Diagnosis is one step, not the end of the process. If medication is recommended, an initial prescribing and titration period follows — this can be delayed further by national medication shortages, which have affected ADHD medications on and off regardless of which route someone used to get diagnosed.3 Ongoing prescribing after titration is usually meant to transfer to your GP under a shared-care agreement with the specialist who diagnosed you — but GPs aren't obliged to accept a shared-care arrangement, and some decline to prescribe controlled ADHD medication under shared care at all. Worth asking about explicitly, with either route, before assuming a diagnosis alone secures ongoing prescriptions.
If you're on a waiting list right now
A few things worth doing while you wait, none of them a substitute for an actual assessment: ask your GP directly whether they're willing to make a Right to Choose referral, since not every GP raises it unprompted; check whether your local ICB has an active pause before assuming a two-week wait applies to you; and keep a running note of concrete examples of how attention, time management or impulsivity affect specific parts of your life — work, relationships, money — since that's the kind of detail a structured assessment actually asks for, not a symptom checklist. If sleep is part of what's hardest to manage while you wait, our own overview of ADHD and sleep looks at why the two so often overlap.
References
- NHS England. Report of the Independent ADHD Taskforce: Part 1 (interim report), 2025. england.nhs.uk
- Clinical Partners. NHS Right to Choose wait times and updates. clinical-partners.co.uk
- Psychiatry-UK. Right to Choose ADHD: eligibility and process. psychiatry-uk.com
- Private Psychiatry. Fees for private psychiatric assessment. privatepsychiatry.co.uk
Notes on sourcing: wait times and ICB pause information (reference 2) are as reported by one Right to Choose provider at time of writing and can change; check current status with your own GP or provider before relying on a specific figure. Provider names are mentioned for factual accuracy about how Right to Choose is delivered in practice — Proco is not affiliated with and does not receive referral fees from any provider named here.
Related reading
- Adult ADHD in Ireland: what the wait actually looks like
- Adult ADHD or burnout: how to tell the difference
- ADHD in women: why it's often missed
- ADHD and sleep: why they so often overlap
- Omega-3 and adult ADHD symptoms: what the evidence shows
*This article is educational information, not medical advice, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Proco does not currently provide ADHD assessment or prescribing services.