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, lets you pick a different NHS-funded provider if your GP agrees to refer you. It can be faster, but some areas now limit it, so waits on this route vary too. 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.
8+ years
The longest reported adult NHS ADHD waits, per NHS England's own independent ADHD Taskforce — with 40% of adults surveyed reporting waits of two years or more.1
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. In most areas the GP won't diagnose ADHD or start medication, though some areas now run assessments in GP practices for straightforward cases.
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.
Right to Choose isn't a private alternative to the NHS. It's a legal right in England, set out in regulation 39 of the NHS Standing Rules Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2996), to choose any clinically appropriate NHS-commissioned provider for a first appointment after an elective referral, including for mental health. For ADHD, a number of independent providers hold NHS contracts and run assessment services through this route, funded by the NHS rather than paid for privately.
Waits on this route vary a lot by area. In March 2026, for example, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB asked providers, including those working under Right to Choose, to offer fewer new adult ADHD assessments to people who had waited less than 52 weeks, so that people who had waited longest, in some cases more than two years, could be seen first. Ask your GP what applies where you live.
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 — cap how many assessments each Right to Choose provider can carry out; NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB, for example, says providers may need to pause or delay the date they can offer a new ADHD assessment to stay within that limit, so check the current position with your GP. Second, the right applies only in England (NHS Choice Framework), so you need to be registered with a GP in England — not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland — and the choice is made at the point of referral. Self-referral isn't possible: a GP has to agree an ADHD assessment is clinically appropriate and make the referral themselves.
However you get there, a proper adult ADHD assessment is not a short questionnaire. ADHD Aware, a UK charity, says your GP may ask you to complete a screening form called the ASRS before referring you, and that it is not unusual for the assessment to be held by video call. The assessment itself is a structured clinical interview 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.
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. Fees vary widely between providers. The assessment fee may not include titration, follow-up reviews or medication, so ask for the full cost before you book. 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.
RouteTypical wait for assessmentCostStandard NHSUp to 8+ years reported in some areas; no complete national data1Free at point of useNHS Right to ChooseVaries by area; some ICBs limit new assessmentsFree at point of use (NHS-funded)PrivateTypically weeksVaries by provider; ask whether titration and reviews are billed separately
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 medicine supply problems: the Welsh Government reported supply disruptions to ADHD medicines from autumn 2023, most since resolved, and these affect people whichever route they used to get diagnosed. 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.
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 your local ICB's current Right to Choose position before assuming a short wait; 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.
Notes on sourcing: national waiting-time figures are from NHS England's ADHD Taskforce (reference 1). Local Right to Choose limits are from the integrated care boards named in the text, eligibility is from the NHS Choice Framework, and the screening and video-assessment detail is from ADHD Aware, a charity. Local positions change, so check the current position with your own GP or ICB before relying on a specific figure. We did not use clinic websites as sources, and Proco is not affiliated with any assessment provider.
*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.