Right to Choose ADHD waiting times in England vary by provider, by service (assessment versus titration), and sometimes by integrated care board. The legal right to choose a first outpatient provider and team does not guarantee a short wait, a shorter wait than the local NHS list, or any particular number of weeks. Any figure on a clinic website is a snapshot only, with a date and a URL. This page does not publish a blended wait table of our own numbers.
This is independent information. It is not the NHS, not a clinic, not diagnostic advice and not a referral service. Written by Pete, editor, not a clinician. England only.
Who this applies to
Use this page if you are in England and you want to understand waits for an NHS-funded ADHD assessment (or titration) that might sit on the Right to Choose pathway — that is, a clinically appropriate elective first-outpatient referral to a provider that already holds a qualifying NHS Standard Contract. Start with eligibility and Right to Choose ADHD.
NICE NG87 describes how ADHD should be assessed. It does not create the choice right, and it does not set a legal maximum wait for Right to Choose.
Who this does not apply to
- People in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The Choice Framework and the NHS Constitution for England apply to England. See England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Treating a clinic’s published wait as a guarantee, a live queue, or an official NHS statistic.
- Mixing two clinics’ figures into one “average Right to Choose wait”. We will not do that here.
- Equating first-outpatient choice of provider with the separate maximum waiting-time right (often described as 18 weeks). They are different legal rights.
- Treating NICE CG128’s three-month “start diagnostic assessment” recommendation for autism under 19s as a legal ADHD wait, or as the 18-week right.
Two legal rights, not one wait
First-outpatient choice (the pathway people call Right to Choose) is the right, in England, to choose a clinically appropriate provider and team at the point of an elective referral by a GP, dentist or optometrist, where the provider already holds a qualifying NHS Standard Contract. Official documents call this choice of provider and team, or choice of where to go for a first outpatient appointment. It says nothing that guarantees a short ADHD wait.
Maximum waiting-time choice is a separate legal right, explained in section 4 of the NHS Choice Framework: usually 18 weeks to start consultant-led non-urgent treatment or assessment; a different, faster standard applies to cancer diagnosis. The NHS Constitution restates maximum waiting times (or all reasonable steps to offer suitable alternatives) as described in the Handbook. NHS.uk also describes a separate right to ask to move if you are likely to wait longer than the maximum waiting time.
Choosing an independent NHS-contracted ADHD clinic under first-outpatient choice does not automatically start, stop, or replace the 18-week right. Do not read a clinic snapshot as “your 18-week clock”. Do not read 18 weeks as “Right to Choose ADHD waiting times”.
Waits are not guaranteed by the legal right
Official sources do not say that exercising choice will be faster than the local NHS list. ADHD UK’s charity wording that Right to Choose “gives you the shortest waits in the NHS” is not a line this site will repeat as law. Provider demand, Indicative Activity Plans, booking pauses and ICB operational restrictions can all lengthen a queue without repealing the Standing Rules right. See ICB restrictions.
A snapshot can be out of date the next day. Titration waits can be much longer than assessment waits. Some organisations publish no number at all.
Where to read dated snapshots (not our numbers)
We quote waits, if at all, only on individual provider pages, as that organisation’s dated snapshot, with their URL. This page is an index of where to look. It is not a blended table of weeks.
Check current wait on the provider’s own site. Last checked: 1 September 2026.
| Provider | Snapshot on our page | Provider’s own URL | What they published (1 September 2026 fetch) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CARE ADHD | Our CARE ADHD page | careadhd.co.uk/your-right-to-choose | No numeric wait on the RTC page. They point to a Help Centre article. We have not invented a CARE wait. |
| Psychiatry UK | Our Psychiatry UK page | psychiatry-uk.com/waiting-times-update | Dated snapshot on their waiting-times page, updated 30 June 2026 (page metadata also timestamped 2026-08-20). Quote the figures only from that page / our provider page. Do not use a conflicting homepage figure. |
| ADHD 360 | Our ADHD 360 page | adhd-360.com/right-to-choose | No single national number extracted from the RTC page. They mention ICB-level average waits; that table was not a stable national figure. |
| ProblemShared | Our ProblemShared page | problemshared.net/right-to-choose | Dated snapshot as of 26/06/26 on their RTC page. Figures live there and on our provider page. |
| Clinical Partners | Our Clinical Partners page | Wait times and updates | Dated snapshot, last updated 27 August 2026, and only if no ICB instruction applies. They also list booking pauses as operational notes. |
| Innovate | Our Innovate page | innovateadhd.com/nhs-patients | Dated snapshot, current status 30 August 2026. Do not generalise “no wait” nationally. |
| Evolve | Our Evolve page | evolvepsychology.com/right-to-choose | Child-assessment snapshot on the RTC page (undated except the sentence itself). We are not quoting a different range from a private-versus-RTC comparison page. |
| Harrow Health | Our Harrow Health page | adhdrighttochoose.com | Homepage says “short waiting times” but publishes no number. We have not invented a Harrow wait. |
Full claims index: providers. This site has not verified NHS Standard Contracts and does not rank clinics.
Secondary, not law: ADHD UK maintains a Right to Choose wait-times page. On 1 September 2026 their national numeric table did not render in a text fetch. Even when live, treat it as a monthly provider-reported snapshot, not as this site’s table and not as an official NHS statistic.
Step by step
- Confirm you are in scope: eligibility and Right to Choose ADHD.
- Open the providers index and the individual page for any clinic you might name.
- Read their dated snapshot, if they published one, then open their URL and check the wait on the day.
- Do not average two clinics, and do not treat titration waits as assessment waits.
- If ADHD medication might follow, read the titration and shared-care columns. Choice law does not force a GP to accept shared care. See how we make money if you ask a listed clinic to contact you — we may receive a fee; that is not an NHS fee.
- Ask using the GP script. Naming a provider is a preference. Clinical appropriateness stays with the referrer.
- If you were told choice does not exist because of an ICB cap or prior approval, read ICB restrictions and If your GP refuses.
Sources
Primary sources (law and official publications). Retrieved 1 September 2026.
- NHS Choice Framework — what choices are available to you in your NHS care, Department of Health and Social Care. Applies to England. Section 3 is first-outpatient choice of provider and team. Section 4 is the separate maximum waiting-time choice (usually 18 weeks for consultant-led non-urgent care). Published 29 April 2016; landing last updated 23 October 2024. HTML · Landing
- The NHS Constitution for England, Department of Health and Social Care. Informed-choice right; maximum waiting times (or all reasonable steps to offer suitable alternatives) as described in the Handbook. The Constitution does not create new legal rights and does not guarantee a short wait or a particular independent provider. HTML
- Patient choice guidance, NHS England, B1441, 19 December 2023. Qualifying contract; remote ASD and ADHD assessments may be in scope when other tests are met; Indicative Activity Plans and capacity are not described as abolishing choice. Long-read
- NHS Standing Rules, Part 8, SI 2012/2996 as revised, including SI 2023/1105. Choice of provider and team — not a wait guarantee. Revised Part 8 · SI 2023/1105
- Your choices in the NHS, NHS.uk. Separate right to ask to move if you are likely to wait longer than the maximum waiting time. Page last reviewed 10 May 2023 (review overdue as of 1 September 2026; still live). NHS.uk
- NICE NG87, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management. Clinical guideline; silent on Right to Choose and on a legal maximum wait. NG87
Each organisation’s own page (claims and snapshots only; retrieved 1 September 2026): CARE ADHD · Psychiatry UK waiting times · ADHD 360 · ProblemShared · Clinical Partners waits · Innovate ADHD · Evolve Psychology · Harrow Health
Secondary (not law, not our table):
- ADHD UK, Right to Choose wait times (JS table; monthly provider-reported snapshot). Page
Frequently asked questions
What are Right to Choose ADHD waiting times?
They vary. There is no single official number for “the” Right to Choose ADHD wait. Read dated snapshots on each provider’s own URL and on our individual provider pages. Do not treat a snapshot as a live queue.
Does Right to Choose guarantee a shorter ADHD wait?
No. First-outpatient choice is a right to choose a qualifying provider and team, not a right to a short wait. Official sources do not promise that choosing an independent NHS-contracted clinic will be faster than the local NHS list.
Is the 18-week maximum wait the same as Right to Choose?
No. Maximum waiting-time choice is a separate legal right (Choice Framework section 4). First-outpatient choice is section 3. Do not blend them.
Why don’t you publish one comparison table of weeks?
Because blending two providers’ snapshots into “our” numbers would invent a statistic that none of those pages published. We point to dated snapshots instead.
Why is there no CARE ADHD or Harrow Health number here?
They did not publish a numeric wait on the RTC pages we retrieved on 1 September 2026. We do not invent waits.
Are children’s ADHD waits covered by Right to Choose?
Choice law is all ages. A named provider may still only see certain ages. Children’s Right to Choose exists in the primary sources; age bands on clinic websites are that provider’s rules. Waits, if published, are still snapshots.
What about titration waits?
Several clinics publish a longer wait for medication than for assessment. Those are still their snapshots. Choice law does not force a GP to accept shared care after titration.
Is ADHD UK’s wait table official?
No. It is a charity snapshot of provider-reported figures. It is not law and not this site’s table.
Next steps
- Eligibility
- Right to Choose ADHD
- Providers index — open the clinic page, then their URL
- How to ask your GP
Last reviewed: 1 September 2026
Author: Pete, editor, not a clinician
Right to Choose Pathway is an independent England-only information site. It is not the NHS, not affiliated with the NHS, not a clinic, not a diagnostic service and not a referral service. It does not guarantee a referral, a diagnosis, shared care, or a short wait.