If you are based in England under the NHS you now have a legal right to choose your mental healthcare provider and your choice of mental healthcare team. This important right means that, for instance, should you decide the waiting time for your ADHD assessment is too long, then you can choose alternative providers. The provider must supply the service to the NHS somewhere in England. The providers we are aware of are listed on our website and we update the list regularly.
Right to Choose within mental health is a relatively new option (since 2018) and as such, not all patients, GPs or other clinicians are aware of it and how it works. We’ve got an explanation targeted for people going through the ADHD Assessment process on our website.
For how Right to Choose fits into the diagnosis pathway please click here. We’ve also got a downloadable support letter for anyone who finds their GP has initially declined them.
You will also find significant amounts of information via the NHS link on NHS choices below:
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-choices-in-the-nhs/
Patients have the Right to Choose when the following conditions are met:
- the NHS practice is in England (different rules apply for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
- the General Practitioner has agreed to make clinically appropriate outpatient referral (Of note: The decision to make a referral is the GPs responsibility and separate from Right to Choose. Right to Choose is a patient’s right to decide where that referral is to)
The above is designed to be wide ranging in its application to patient choice. However. there are certain restrictions on a patient’s Right to Choose that you should be aware of.
Patients cannot use Right to Choose is they are:
- already receiving mental health care following an elective referral for the same condition
- 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)
- accessing urgent or emergency (crisis) care
- accessing services delivered through a primary care contract
- in high secure psychiatric services
- detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
- 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
- serving as a member of the armed forces (family members in England have the same rights as other residents of England.
There are restrictions on who the patient can direct their care to. Patients cannot refer to just any provider. The provider must:
- have a commissioning contract with any Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) or NHS England for the required service
- have the service and team led by a consultant or a mental healthcare professional
- Common GP queries include:
does an IFR (Individual Funding Request) need to be in place? It does not
does the CCG need to be asked permission? It does not
For the avoidance of any doubt: It is our clear understanding, and we know of hundreds who have done so, that an ADHD Assessment falls under Right to Choose.