Right to Choose ADHD Assessments for Children: What Parents Should Look For
If you think your child may have ADHD, you might not know where to turn for an assessment. You may have heard about lengthy NHS waiting lists, and in some areas those waits can run into years. So what are your options? Right to Choose ADHD for children is an NHS-funded route in England, not throughout the UK. You may see Right to Choose shortened to RTC. To use it, ask your GP whether they can refer your child for an ADHD assessment through Right to Choose.
I’m Dr Lucy Russell, a child clinical psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), with more than 20 years’ experience. I previously worked in the NHS, where I ran a service for neurodivergent children. I’m now Clinical Director of Everlief Child Psychology, which I founded with my husband Mike in 2012. Our service specialises in working with neurodivergent children and offers ADHD assessments as well as combined ADHD and autism assessments. This experience informs what I look for in a thorough assessment. Please note that Everlief is a private service, and we have chosen not to join the Right to Choose scheme.
Right to Choose ADHD for children: how the pathway works
The Right to Choose pathway allows your GP to refer your child to a service outside your local NHS assessment team. The NHS pays for the assessment, provided the chosen service has an NHS contract covering the assessment your child needs and can accept the referral.
Your GP first needs to agree that your child needs an ADHD assessment. They should then discuss suitable services with you. ADHD UK’s Right to Choose information can help you prepare for that conversation.
You cannot choose any private clinic and expect the NHS to pay. A clinic may offer private children’s assessments without offering them through Right to Choose.
Ask which appointments involve a remote assessment (online) and which involve meeting your child face-to-face. In my view, an online assessment should not be the main way of assessing a child: it could miss essential information. A parent interview online can work well as part of a wider assessment. Ask what feedback, written report and support you will receive afterwards.
Your three main options for a child ADHD assessment
There are three main routes to consider. Which ones are available will depend on your child’s needs and the services that can accept a referral.
Here is how the three routes compare at a glance.
| Local NHS pathway | NHS Right to Choose | Self-funded private assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The NHS | The NHS | Your family |
| Where it is available | Across the UK | England only | Across the UK |
| How to start | Ask your GP how children are assessed in your area | Ask your GP to refer your child to a service with an NHS contract for Right to Choose | Contact the private provider directly |
| Waiting time | Varies by area and can be months or years | Varies by service and may be shorter, so ask for its latest estimate | Often shorter, so ask for the current wait |
| Cost to you | Free | Free | You pay the full fee. Costs vary. |
| After the assessment | Follow-up through your local NHS services | Ask what feedback, report and follow-up are included | Ask what is included, and ask your GP about NHS support afterwards |
Local NHS assessment pathway
Your GP can explain how children are assessed in your area. This may involve a community paediatric team, which specialises in children’s health and development, or child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), depending on where you live. The NHS information on childhood ADHD explains how to seek assessment and support.
Waiting times vary and may be months or years. Ask the service about its current wait and what help your child can receive while waiting.
While you wait, you can start putting practical support in place at home. My ADHD Action Plan tool gives you a personalised plan for everyday challenges such as homework, mornings and meltdowns, and you can use it before any diagnosis.
NHS-funded Right to Choose assessment
NHS Right to Choose (RTC) is part of NHS care. It may give your child access to an assessment at another clinic or service, with the NHS covering the cost.
It doesn’t guarantee a shorter wait. Start with the Right to Choose pages on each service’s website: look for the ages they accept, the estimated wait from referral to assessment, and what appointments your child would have. If anything is unclear or the waiting time has no recent update, email or phone the service to ask. You could also ask: “Will someone meet my child in person, and which parts, if any, take place online?”
Self-funded private assessment
With a private assessment, your family pays the private provider directly. Ask for the full fee, including any extra charges. Check what it covers, from the assessment itself to feedback, the written report and follow-up support.
If you hope to access NHS support after a private assessment, ask your GP: “Which NHS service can help with my child’s needs, and can you send them the full assessment report with a referral?” Ask what support is available and whether there is a waiting list. Your child keeps their entitlement to NHS care if you pay privately, although access to a particular service depends on their needs and that service’s referral criteria.
A thorough private assessment is just as valid as one funded by the NHS. NHS England’s 2026/27 guidance recommends that NHS services which start and adjust ADHD medication accept diagnostic reports from independent providers, including Right to Choose services, unless there is a clear clinical reason not to. It also says unnecessary reassessments should be avoided. If a service questions your child’s report, ask them to explain the specific concern in writing so you can discuss it with the assessing clinician.
How to request Right to Choose for your child
A few clear examples are enough to start a conversation with your GP.
- Book an appointment at your GP surgery. Explain what your child finds difficult and how it affects home and school. Bring a few examples and any information from their teacher.
- Ask about NHS Right to Choose (RTC). If your GP agrees that your child needs an ADHD assessment, ask which services can assess children through this NHS-funded route. Your GP should discuss suitable services and help you choose. You can also ask about a service you have found yourself. Your GP needs to check that it offers the relevant NHS-funded assessment and can accept your child’s referral.
- Compare the services before choosing. Check the service’s age limits and whether it is taking referrals from your area. Ask about exclusion criteria: are there any needs or circumstances the service cannot support? Ask how long you might wait, whether they offer an online assessment or in-person appointments, what the assessment involves and what help is available afterwards.
- Check the referral form and any other paperwork. Ask which forms you need to fill in and which should go to your child’s school. On forms, “CYP” stands for children and young people, so “CYP ADHD” refers to ADHD services for this age group. The service needs a GP referral, which your GP sends. You do not book a self-funded private assessment and expect the NHS to reimburse you.
- Check that the referral has arrived. Ask the service to confirm that it has received your child’s referral. Check whether your child is on its waiting list and what happens next.
If your child is already on an NHS waiting list, ask your GP what happens to that waiting-list place before changing services. Do not cancel it without understanding whether you could lose time already spent waiting.
In some areas, the integrated care board (the NHS organisation that plans and funds local services) limits how many assessments a service is funded to carry out in a given period, as explained in NHS South West London’s guidance. You may see this limit called an Indicative Activity Plan. Once it is reached, appointments may pause even if the service is still accepting referrals. This can lengthen waits; it does not mean Right to Choose has ended. Before choosing, ask whether appointments are currently going ahead for children from your area.
What a thorough child ADHD assessment should include
A thorough diagnostic assessment looks at your child’s experiences over time, both at home and at school. NICE guidelines for ADHD set out what an assessment should cover.
The specialist clinician assessing your child should explore their development, health, learning, relationships and emotional wellbeing. They need to understand the difficulties you have noticed and what daily life is like for your child.
This means gathering information from home and school, as well as hearing your child’s views. Ask how the service helps children share their experiences if they find direct questions difficult.
Differences between home and school need careful attention. For example, a child might seem calm and focused in class but come home exhausted after working hard to stay focused. My guidance on hidden ADHD in girls explores patterns that can be overlooked.
The assessment should explore other possible explanations for your child’s difficulties, such as anxiety, sleep problems or learning needs. Autism and ADHD can occur together. Ask whether an autism assessment might also be helpful if the team notices signs of both.
A screening questionnaire or computer test can add useful information. NICE guidelines make clear that a screening questionnaire alone cannot establish a diagnosis.
Ask how the clinician will make sense of any differences between what you and school have noticed.
Questions to ask any child ADHD assessment provider
I would ask these questions whichever route you choose:
- Who will assess my child? What qualifications, specialist training and experience with children do they have?
- How will you gather information from home and school and hear my child’s views?
- How will you check whether something other than ADHD could explain the difficulties?
- How will you explore other needs, such as anxiety or learning difficulties, that may occur alongside ADHD?
- What happens if the information does not give a clear answer about whether my child has ADHD?
- What feedback and diagnostic report will we receive?
- Will the recommendations give school clear, practical ways to support my child?
- What follow-up and family support are included? Are there any additional costs?
Look for a service that explains clearly what it does. Ask it to describe the patient journey: what happens before, during and after the assessment.
Why our service chose not to join Right to Choose
The main reason we did not become an RTC provider at Everlief was practical: we already had so much demand that we could not cope with additional referrals.
Thorough assessments need experienced professionals and enough time to understand a child. For some services, the payment available through Right to Choose may not cover the cost of the assessment they want to offer. Joining also involves paperwork and other requirements. These can be reasons a high-quality service remains outside the scheme.
How an assessment is funded does not tell you how thorough it will be.
What we mean by a gold-standard assessment in our service
At Everlief, we follow NICE guidelines and use a staged process to understand your child’s strengths and difficulties. For me, clinical excellence means taking the time to understand the whole child and turning that understanding into useful support.
An initial phone discussion checks whether this kind of assessment fits your child’s needs. You provide a parent form and existing reports. You and school each complete a screening questionnaire (Conners 4) about your child’s behaviour and attention. We review the questionnaires and, if they suggest possible ADHD, move on to a full assessment.
The full assessment includes a QB-check computer task that provides information about your child’s attention. DIVA is a diagnostic interview for ADHD. Using the version for children and young people, we talk with you and your child about ADHD symptoms and how they affect daily life. We gather school information through observation, or a questionnaire or interview for older children. The WISC-V (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition) explores how your child thinks and learns through a range of tasks.
You also have a parents-only consultation with one of our most experienced clinical psychologists. Our team reviews all the information together. A detailed report explains whether your child meets the criteria for ADHD and describes their strengths and support needs. You receive recommendations whether or not ADHD is diagnosed.
What happens after your child’s assessment
If ADHD medication is considered later, ask the specialist who would prescribe it and monitor your child. A shared care agreement sets out who is responsible for prescribing and monitoring between the specialist and GP. Your GP must agree to it. A diagnosis alone does not put this arrangement in place.
You may feel relieved, upset or uncertain. Give yourself time to absorb the feedback, and ask for explanations if anything is unclear.
Start with one or two manageable recommendations. Talk with your child’s teacher or special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO), who helps organise support for pupils with additional needs. Agree on what you will try at home and school.
If homework is causing distress, this might mean a smaller first task, a movement break and fewer spoken instructions at once. My guide to breaking homework into manageable steps offers a practical starting point.
Include your child in choosing what to try. Ask, “Which part feels hardest?” rather than assuming you already know.
If ADHD isn’t diagnosed, ask what might explain the difficulties and whether anything needs further investigation. You should still receive advice about support.
Practical support while you wait: Your Child’s ADHD Action Plan
You can try practical support before a diagnosis is confirmed.
My guide to autism and ADHD resources for parents lists organisations I trust for reliable information and support.
I’ve created Your Child’s ADHD Action Plan, an interactive online tool for parents of children aged 5-17 with diagnosed or strongly suspected ADHD. You don’t need a diagnosis to use it.
You create a short profile describing your child’s age, strengths and difficulties. Then you choose a current challenge, such as meltdowns, homework, mornings, transitions or friendships.
Your personalised plan explains the difficulty, suggests words to use in the moment and offers practical strategies and things to avoid.
You can revisit plans as your child’s needs change and use the tool on a phone, tablet or computer.
It offers practical parenting support. It does not diagnose ADHD or replace professional assessment or individual clinical care.
Choosing the right ADHD assessment for your child
Start with a clear set of questions about who assesses your child, how they gather information and what support follows.
Your child deserves to be heard, understood and supported through whichever route you choose.
If you’d like practical help at home while you wait, try Your Child’s ADHD Action Plan. You can create your child’s profile in about two minutes and have your first personalised plan straight away.
Right to Choose ADHD for children: frequently asked questions
Right to Choose is an NHS-funded route in England that lets your GP refer your child to an assessment service outside your local NHS team. The NHS pays for the assessment, provided the service has an NHS contract covering the assessment your child needs and can accept the referral. It is part of NHS care and applies in England only. You may see it shortened to RTC.
Start by booking an appointment with your GP and explaining what your child finds difficult at home and school, with a few examples and any information from their teacher. If your GP agrees your child needs an ADHD assessment, ask which services can assess children through Right to Choose. You can also suggest a service you have found yourself, and your GP will check it can accept the referral. Once your GP has sent the referral, ask the service to confirm it has arrived.
Waiting times vary from service to service, so a shorter wait is possible but not guaranteed. Check each service’s Right to Choose page for its estimated wait from referral to assessment, and phone or email if the information looks out of date. In some areas, local funding limits can pause appointments for a while, even when a service is still accepting referrals.
Ask your GP what happens to your child’s current waiting list place before you change services. Keep the place until you understand whether moving could mean losing time already spent waiting.
A thorough private assessment is just as valid as one funded by the NHS. NHS England’s 2026/27 guidance recommends that NHS services which start and adjust ADHD medication accept diagnostic reports from independent providers unless there is a clear clinical reason not to. If a service questions your child’s report, ask them to explain the specific concern in writing so you can discuss it with the assessing clinician.
A thorough assessment looks at your child’s development, health, learning, relationships and emotional wellbeing, using information from home and school as well as your child’s own views. It should also explore other possible explanations, such as anxiety, sleep problems or learning needs, and consider whether autism is part of the picture. A screening questionnaire or computer test can add useful information, but a questionnaire alone cannot establish a diagnosis. NICE guidelines set out what an assessment should cover.
Dr Lucy Russell is a UK clinical psychologist and Clinical Director of Everlief Child Psychology. She qualified as a clinical psychologist from Oxford University in 2005 and worked in the National Health Service for many years before moving fully into her leadership and writing roles.
In 2019 Lucy launched They Are The Future, a support website for parents of school-aged children. Through TATF Lucy is passionate about giving practical, manageable strategies to parents and children who may otherwise struggle to find the support they need.
Lucy lives with her family, rescue cats and dog, and also fosters cats through a local animal welfare charity. She loves singing in a vocal harmony group and spending time in nature.
