How a Right to Choose referral works
Most refused requests are refused because the referral named no provider, not because the right was disputed.
To use Right to Choose in England, pick a provider holding an NHS contract for the service, then ask your GP to refer you to that named provider. The GP sends the referral, the provider confirms acceptance, and your wait starts from that acceptance date. There is no cost.
how to ask gp for right to choose | Reviewed August 2026
The four steps
Choose a provider that holds an NHS contract for the service you need and accepts Right to Choose referrals from your area
Download that provider's referral template if they publish one, since it removes the main source of friction
Ask your GP, in writing where possible, to refer you to the named provider under your right to choose in the NHS Constitution
Wait for the provider to confirm acceptance, then check your quoted wait from that date
What to say
Keep it short and specific. Name the provider, name the service, and reference the right. A workable line: "I would like to exercise my right to choose my provider for an ADHD assessment and be referred to [provider], who hold an NHS contract for this service."
Vague requests fail. A request to "be referred somewhere faster" gives the practice nothing to act on and will usually be routed to the local service by default.
What a GP can and cannot do
A GP cannot decline simply because a local service exists or because they prefer it. They can decline if the referral is not clinically indicated, if the provider does not hold the relevant NHS contract, or if the service sits outside the right, such as urgent care and maternity.
If a request is refused and you believe the refusal is not on those grounds, ask for the reason in writing, then raise it with the practice manager. Most are resolved at that point.
After the referral
The provider triages, confirms acceptance and issues a wait estimate. Keep the acceptance email, because that date is what your wait should be measured from, not the date you first asked. If a provider goes quiet for more than a few weeks, chase in writing rather than waiting.
For provider operations teams
Referral quality is a throughput lever most providers underuse. A published template, a clear eligibility statement and a same-week acceptance decision reduce bounce-backs and cut the effective wait without adding a single clinician. Scale Health works on both sides of that equation: the process design and the clinical bench underneath it.
Common questions
- Do I need my GP's agreement to use Right to Choose?
- You need them to make the referral, but the choice of provider is yours as long as the provider holds the relevant NHS contract and the referral is clinically appropriate.
- Can I choose a provider outside my local area?
- Yes. The right is not geographically limited within England, which is why remote and hybrid assessment providers can accept referrals nationally.
- What if my GP has never heard of Right to Choose?
- Provide the provider's referral template and quote the NHS Constitution. Most practices process the request once the paperwork is in front of them.
- How long does the referral itself take?
- Usually days rather than weeks. The wait that matters starts when the provider confirms acceptance, so ask for that confirmation in writing.
Keep reading
Right to Choose ADHD assessment
Assessment is no longer the hard part. Getting medication titrated and shared care accepted is where the pathway breaks.
ReadRight to Choose autism assessment
The legal right is straightforward. The bottleneck is provider capacity, and that is a workforce problem before it is a policy one.
ReadHow to compare Right to Choose providers
Every provider advertises a wait. Very few advertise what happens after the diagnosis, which is where the differences actually are.
ReadExplore next
Running a Right to Choose service?
Scale Health builds the clinical benches these pathways depend on: assessors, independent prescribers, supervising clinicians and consultant psychiatrists, credentialed before they start.