The Centre for ADHD Research and Excellence (CARE ADHD) Reviews 

**Diagnosed quickly, then effectively abandoned without treatment**

I am hugely underwhelmed by my experience with Care ADHD.

Initially, everything went surprisingly well. My GP referred me in December 2025, and I was contacted shortly afterwards to complete the necessary forms. As someone with ADHD and significant executive-functioning difficulties, the volume of paperwork was overwhelming, although I managed to complete it quickly because I was anxious to progress towards an assessment.

Within a few weeks, I was offered an assessment. The staff I spoke to were helpful, although it was sometimes difficult to get through by telephone. I was assessed on 12 January 2026, diagnosed with combined-type ADHD, and received my report approximately one week later.

After expressing an interest in medication, I was sent further forms relating to titration. These repeated a considerable amount of information I had already provided. Care ADHD is dealing with people who, by the very nature of their condition, may struggle with organisation, task initiation, memory and completing lengthy administrative processes. The paperwork should be simplified and streamlined rather than unnecessarily duplicated.

I completed and returned the titration forms and was told, as many other patients appear to have been told, that I could expect a titration appointment within approximately 12 weeks. I was later advised that I should receive an appointment around June or July.

It is now 17 July 2026, more than six months after my diagnosis, and I am still waiting.

Being diagnosed quickly may look impressive, but a diagnosis without access to timely treatment or meaningful follow-up is not an adequate service. Care ADHD cannot continue diagnosing people and then leaving them for months without treatment, support or any reliable indication of when help will actually become available. The expected timescales appear to keep changing, while patients are left to spend hours chasing updates.

Unfortunately, my experience with Care ADHD’s under-18 service has also been deeply concerning.

My daughter was referred by her GP in December 2025 and was initially on the pathway with another Right to Choose provider. After speaking with Care ADHD, we were advised that its under-18 service had recently launched and that waiting times were relatively short. On the basis of that information, we made the significant decision to leave the original provider and obtain a new referral to Care ADHD.

Her forms were issued relatively quickly and have now been completed, including the information required from her school. However, we are still waiting for a meaningful response regarding her assessment.

As I write this review, I have been on hold to the Care ADHD under-18 team for one hour and 52 minutes. I have already submitted an enquiry through the website and have received no useful response. This level of accessibility is completely unacceptable, particularly for a service supporting neurodivergent children, adults and families who may already be struggling considerably.

ADHD is not simply an inconvenience. For many people, it affects education, employment, relationships, emotional regulation, mental health and their ability to manage everyday life. Leaving people in limbo after diagnosis, with no treatment and no reliable communication, can have serious consequences.

I appreciate that Care ADHD states that it is recruiting additional practitioners and developing its service, but the current system is plainly not coping with demand. It is not enough to continue accepting referrals and conducting assessments if there is insufficient capacity to provide the treatment and follow-up patients have been led to expect.

The most distressing part is the complete lack of clarity. Patients are repeatedly given estimated timescales, only for those timescales to pass or be extended without proper explanation. An enormous amount of time and emotional energy is then spent trying to discover what is happening.

If a patient attended hospital with a broken arm, they would not reasonably expect to be diagnosed and then left for six months without treatment. Yet that is effectively how this process feels: diagnosed, placed on another waiting list, and left to chase a service that is extraordinarily difficult to contact.

My experience began positively, but the care following diagnosis has been profoundly disappointing. Care ADHD urgently needs to improve its communication, telephone accessibility, administrative processes and, most importantly, its capacity to provide timely treatment after diagnosis.

Diagnosed months ago and still left without treatment

I was diagnosed with ADHD in mid-January and was told that the wait to begin medication would be up to 12 weeks. That already felt like a long time, but I accepted it and waited patiently.

Care ADHD are more than happy to continue the churn of NHS patients and thus cash. They blame a backlog whilst well aware of how many patients, I wonder if a stop on taking new patients on has occurred? I doubt it, as nobody gets paid then! Telling.

It is now mid-July, approximately six months after my diagnosis, and I still have not started medication. Earlier this month, I was finally asked to provide a baseline ECG, which I completed and returned promptly. Since then, I have received complete radio silence.

The original 12-week timeframe passed months ago. I have been patient, avoided leaving a negative review and only sent limited chasers, but there comes a point where this level of delay and communication becomes unacceptable. ADHD significantly affects my ability to manage everyday life. Leaving patients without treatment or meaningful updates for this length of time has real life consequences.

What makes the experience worse is the lack of personal communication and ownership. I do not want another generic or AI-generated response apologising for the delay. I want an actual person to review my case, explain why I have been waiting for approximately six months, confirm EXACTLY where I am in the process and provide a realistic date for treatment to begin. If I even had the sniff of a timeframe, I could deal with it better.

Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Care ADHD. The delays have gone far beyond the timeframe I was originally given, and the communication throughout the process has been extremely poor.

They were brilliant from start to finish really happy with the service they have provided

Over all the experience was really good and very quick to get my diagnosis, the only bad bit was I never revived my paper copy of my diagnosis and as I don’t have a printer and only have a phone I can’t read the report

Great assessor. Detailed report.

Quick booking an assessment
accommodating, non judgemental staff

They are so understanding when you have your assessment. Talk you through it. The pharmacy working alongside is amazing. Prescriptions arrive fast. Titration appointments are done via telephone. They are thorough and informative. All in all I thought it was an amazing service!

After being referred to CAREADHD in July last year and then having a month’s wait before receiving any acknowledgement and then subsequently the pre-assessment forms and then waiting a further 4 months to get an assessment date (to the one minor teeny tiny bit of credit, the date given was just over 24 hours after the phone call)

I then had a thorough assessment - absolutely no fault could ever be attributed to their patient facing staff who appear to be knowledgeable and understanding and was subsequently diagnosed with ADHD.

At the time I submitted my titration forms, I was told the wait was around 12-16 weeks, however the goal posts have been continually moved and I’m now at 21 weeks waiting.

However, the real kick in the teeth is when you read the wait times article on their website, where they admit that people diagnosed later, are getting titration appointments sooner (within 3 months) as opposed to the within 6 months the rest of us are being told.

Avoid CAREADHD like the plague, other services will advertise longer wait times, CAREADHD will sell you what feels like a dream like scenario and deliver nothing but endless waits, decline to let you talk to anyone beyond the chatbot’s pre-programmed responses and expect you to be thankful for it.

Fast service and good communication. I had a very thorough assessment and was made to feel listened to and comfortable throughout, thank you.

The wait time for my assessment was really quick and the assessor was lovely, but when I first chose care adhd it was because of their advertised short wait times for titration too. This has not been the case. I have contacted them twice letting them know that I am really struggling and that my uni degree is quite literally on the line if I don't have meds for third year. The first time they couldn't provide me with a wait time. This time they said I should be contacted next month. I have seen so many different experiences, their wait list doesn't seem to make much sense at all. I have seen people diagnosed after me (I was diagnosed in early February) who have already started titration. Last time I checked their wait list times it said that if you were yet to enter the titration pathway the wait time was 3 months, while if you were already on it the wait was 6 months. This to me seems like they are prioritising newer patients which is completely unfair. They say they prioritise people based on high risk and things but I have reached out twice now to let them know how much I am struggling. If the wait times are so long, they should never have been advertised as shorter, or I would never have chosen this provider. I wouldn't even be so disappointed if they could just provide an accurate time frame. I wouldn't mind that my wait is already at 20 weeks if they had said it would be this long instead of providing inaccurate times. I understand that an individual time frame cannot be provided, but the general one should at least be accurate so patients can make informed decisions. Right now it just feels like they're stringing me along when my future is on the line.

I was seen in good time and found the service engaging and very thorough
Thank you.

Really kind and helpful. Made the whole experience feel safe

Very lovely team and short wait time, got my diagnosis within a week :)

Was quick and smooth. The assessor was amazing and if I didn’t understand anything they were happy to explain it better

I first submitted my application for titration requests in early February. I was told it would take at least 3 months to get an appointment. in April and I checked the website and the wait time has been extended to July. meaning its basically 6 months now. I cant wait that long because I'm a university student struggling to get work done. I almost fail my last year and failed some of my units this year this is basically my life line. still have not gotten a call and its nearly 7 months now. i should of picked a different provider. The ADHD assessment itself is actually quick to get but actually treatment is lacking. i wouldn't recommend it

Was referred via my GP in April 2025 and chose Care ADHD via RTC because their wait times looked the best with them advertising 12 weeks from start to finish. I was diagnosed on 8 December and still have not had a Titration appointment. I’ve called and emailed them a few times and while staff are always polite and pleasant, the information changes every time. I called again today and was told my titration appointment is likely to be September. I also know that once I’ve had that it’s likely to be a wait for meds too. I feel at my absolute wits end with all this, all this waiting is so difficult to cope with and Care ADHD’s communication is awful and their updates conflicting. I had to take time off work because I couldn’t cope but had to go back after 3 months as I was no longer being paid sick pay. Not their fault but it’s hard to see light at the end of the tunnel.
EDITED TO ADD THAT AS SUGGESTED IN THEIR RESPONSE I HAVE EMAILED THEIR FEEDBACK TEAM.

Absolutely false reviews on here for good service. It has been more than eight plus weeks No one responds to emails no one answers the phone no one calls back look elsewhere do not use care ADHD. Failure on response time failure on communication failure for service all the way around they say you have an appointment but they never respond filled out forms continuously over and over again with no communication. It's a scam to get data for NHS patients.

Incredibly fast waiting times , easy to navigate systems but poor communication via email

Excellent service. As soon as I had completed the forms on a Friday I had a meeting with the specialist on teams on the Saturday and was diagnosed. After ten days I received the titration form. Just waiting to see what medication can help me now. Very impressed with everything so far.