If you suspect your child may have ADHD and would like to arrange assessment, this can be arranged on the NHS by contacting your child’s school or nursery. They can refer your child for an assessment, and the mental health services have stated that this should be the route of referral, rather than your child being referred by a GP.
Please do not book a GP appointment. If your child’s teacher has suggested you should, please ask to speak to the school’s SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) who will advise further.
Please note: schools and other services should be putting in place adjustments for the child to address their needs, regardless of whether or not a diagnosis has been made yet (including needs for possible ADHD and/or autism).
It is regrettable that waiting times for NHS ADHD assessment are extremely long. You may decide to pay privately for assessment.
Please be advised that we cannot usually ‘share care’ or take over prescribing from a private specialist, so prescriptions are likely to need to continue to come from the specialist until/unless your child is seen in the NHS.
If you or your child is nearly 18 and we are prescribing your/their ADHD medication, please navigate to our adult ADHD webpage and read section 4 about ensuring we can continue the prescription.
Right to Choose referrals
You may be aware that it is sometimes possible to be referred to different providers around the country under NHS ‘Right to Choose’ legislation. We can only refer to these providers if they have been approved by our local health board (ICB). The latest guidance from the local ICB is that they have now approved the following ‘Right to Choose’ providers for children:
| Provider | Service Type | Website |
| Psychiatry-UK | ADHD | https://psychiatry-uk.com/ |
| Clinical Partners | ADHD and Autism | https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/ |
| Oakdale | ADHD/Autism | https://www.oakdalegroup.org/ |
If you would like a ‘Right to Choose’ referral to one of these providers for your child, please email the practice on mrhc.generaladmin@nhs.net asking for a referral, and including full documentation of the assessments made by your child’s school (teacher and/or SENCO). If your child has previously been referred to CAMHS for this, whatever was sent to CAMHS should be included.
Please note that your child cannot be on two NHS waiting lists for the same problem, so if they are on the CAMHS waiting list for ADHD assessment, this will be cancelled when a ‘Right to Choose’ referral is made. If you believe another ‘Right to Choose’ provider is providing high quality care and should be approved by the ICB, you have the right to make an appeal to the ICB for consideration of your case.
You must be able to show that the service you have selected meets the minimum criteria, including (but not necessarily limited to) the following:
a. The specialist clinic is led by a consultant psychiatrist, and has a current appropriate NHS contract, AND
b. The specialist does not discharge patients started on ADHD medication, and will continue seeing them at least yearly for medication review
You can contact the ICB at:
PALS and Complaints Team
Email: bobicb-ox.palscomplaints@nhs.net
Website: bucksoxonberksw.icb.nhs.uk
Tel: 0800 052 6088