Your Right to Choose
With ADHD 360
NHS waiting lists for ADHD can be long, and you may consider that in your area the wait time is too long, and you want to explore other options. One such option is using your Right To Choose (RTC) facility. Right To Choose is complex to understand and operate, but here are some bullets that may help you make your decision. Official NHS explanations of Right To Choose are explained here.
You may be aware that you have the ‘right to choose’ a service provider, especially if the service where you live isn’t meeting the standards expected, and over 18 weeks to get treatment is one of the common missed standards.
So what is the Right to Choose?
There is a lot of misunderstanding about Right to Choose, let’s clear some of that up. The legal rights to choice of mental health provider and team apply when:
The patient has an elective referral for a first outpatient appointment; and
The patient is referred by a GP ; and
The referral is clinically appropriate; and
The service and team are led by a consultant or a mental healthcare professional; and
The provider has an NHS Standard Contract with any CCG or NHS England for the required service
As in physical health, patients’ legal rights to choice apply following a referral by a GP to any provider that has an NHS Standard Contract with any CCG or NHS England for the required service.
NHS guidance states “Having chosen a provider, the patient must be treated by that provider for the entire episode of care for which the patient was referred (unless the provider does not provide the clinically appropriate service that the patient needs or, in the provider’s reasonable professional opinion, a patient is unsuitable to receive the relevant service, for as long as they remain unsuitable)”
Acting upon advice from NHS England we have interpreted this statement to mean that your assessment and treatment to a point where you are stable and optimised on your medication will be covered by your elected Right To Choose.
There are some exclusions from these legal rights to choice. These are where a patient is:
Already receiving mental health care following an elective referral for the same condition; or
Referred to a service that is commissioned by a local authority, for example, a drug and alcohol service (unless commissioned under a Section 75 Agreement); or
Accessing urgent or emergency (that is, crisis) care; or
Accessing services delivered through a primary care contract; or
In high secure psychiatric services; or
- Detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; or detained in a secure setting. This includes people in or on temporary release from prisons, courts, secure children’s homes, certain secure training centres, immigration removal centres or young offender institutions; or
Serving as a member of the armed forces (family members in England have the same rights as other residents of England).
Please note the following: No prior commissioner approval is required for consultant-led elective care or in the case of mental health, services led by a healthcare professional, where the patient has exercised choice of provider under the legal rights set out in the NHS Constitution. (NHS Document Right to Choose in Mental health v5 available here.
What do you, the patient, have to know?
You need to meet the criteria for an assessment for ADHD, that’s fair, as an assessment is expensive. We recommend you complete our screening questionnaire and submit the result with your application. You can find the screening tool on our iPhone app ADHD360 or we can send you a copy by email.
This should also be your first appointment for an assessment.
And finally, you can only ‘choose’ a service that is currently employed on NHS contracts, such as ADHD 360.
How to get diagnosis & treatment via Right to choose:
- A letter to your GP, this includes the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1) questionnaire, please fill this in as meaningfully as possible and give this to your GP. You can download a template here
Referral form, give this to your GP they will fill this in and send it over to us. You can download the template here
You can also download the NHS choice in mental health care document here
Right to Choose – Now booking for Spring 2025
