Professional and statutory requirements for ADHD diagnostic assessment in the UK
Who can legally diagnose ADHD, which regulators apply and how NHS shared care, Right to Choose and CQC registration fit together.
Professional and statutory requirements (PDF)
Our full guide to UK regulatory requirements for ADHD diagnostic assessment.
CAAQAS: children and teenagers
The ADHD Assessment Quality Assurance Standard for Children and Teenagers, on PubMed.
The regulations
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, on legislation.gov.uk.
This guide is for general information, education and guidance only. It is not formal legal, regulatory or clinical advice. Scope of practice, diagnostic authority and prescribing rights are governed by statutory regulators, employer governance, national guidelines and individual competency frameworks. Neither the author nor ADHD Trainer accepts liability for clinical decisions, scope of practice decisions or regulatory compliance by individual practitioners or providers. Check with your regulator (GMC, HCPC, NMC, GPhC or SWE) and your organisation’s governance policies.
Summary
In the UK, any clinician issuing a formal, recognised ADHD diagnosis must be a registered healthcare professional with active statutory registration with a UK regulatory body. Unregistered people, including non-statutory counsellors, academic psychologists without practitioner status and non-clinical coaches, can’t independently diagnose ADHD.
Statutory registration means the practitioner follows national clinical standards, takes part in revalidation or CPD, works to a binding code of ethics and is subject to fitness-to-practise procedures.
Clinical framework and guidance
Under NICE guideline NG87, formal assessment and diagnosis must be carried out by a specialist clinician with training and expertise in neurodevelopmental conditions. Under NICE and wider NHS multidisciplinary team frameworks, assessments may be carried out by:
- Consultant psychiatrists (child, adolescent or adult)
- Consultant paediatricians
- Registered practitioner, clinical or counselling psychologists
- Specialist mental health nurses and advanced nurse practitioners with specialist diagnostic training
- Specialist clinical pharmacist prescribers with postgraduate neurodevelopmental expertise
- Specialist mental health social workers in neurodevelopmental or multidisciplinary teams
- Specialist occupational therapists with postgraduate neurodevelopmental training
- Specialist speech and language therapists in neurodevelopmental diagnostic pathways
A compliant assessment needs structured clinical interviews (such as DIVA-5 or ACE), developmental histories, observer reports and a thorough differential diagnosis to rule out co-occurring mental or physical health conditions. That level of decision-making needs statutory professional accountability.
Statutory regulators
To issue diagnoses that are valid in the NHS, higher education and employment, an assessor must be registered with one of these regulators.
General Medical Council (GMC)
Medical doctors, psychiatrists, paediatricians
Medical Act 1983
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
Clinical and counselling psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists
Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
Mental health nurses, advanced nurse practitioners
Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001
General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
Specialist clinical pharmacists and non-medical prescribers
Pharmacy Order 2010
Social Work England (or SSSC, Social Care Wales, NISCC)
Registered social workers and specialist mental health social workers
Children and Social Work Act 2017
Allied health professionals and social workers
Occupational therapists registered with the HCPC assess functional impairment, executive dysfunction, sensory processing and daily living. With training in diagnostic tools such as UKAAN DIVA-5 accreditation they can contribute to formulations or lead assessments within a multidisciplinary team.
Speech and language therapists registered with the HCPC assess communication difficulties, pragmatic language and differentials involving speech and language disorders.
Registered social workers with advanced neurodevelopmental training can carry out structured interviews, compile developmental histories and form part of the diagnostic pathway.
Standalone diagnoses made outside a multidisciplinary team often need sign-off from a consultant (GMC) or clinical psychologist (HCPC), especially where medication may be needed. Non-prescribing professionals can’t prescribe ADHD medication, so care passes to a GMC, NMC or GPhC prescriber.
Membership of non-statutory bodies such as RCOT, RCSLT, the BPS or BACP shows professional association but doesn’t give statutory authority to diagnose.
Governance and recognition
NHS and shared care. Integrated Care Boards and NHS GPs will only accept diagnostic reports and agree shared care for medication if the assessment was done by a clinician with active, verifiable UK statutory registration.
Right to Choose (England). Patients choosing a private, consultant-led assessment must be referred to a provider with an NHS ICB contract that employs statutory-registered professionals.
CQC registration. Independent clinics in England providing diagnosis, treatment or prescriptions must be registered with the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The CQC checks that clinical staff hold valid registration.
References
- Care Quality Commission (2015) Scope of registration: regulated activities.
- Department of Health and Social Care (2012) NHS Choice Framework.
- Medical Act 1983.
- The Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001 (S.I. 2002/254).
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
- Children and Social Work Act 2017.
- Health and Care Professions Council (2016) Standards of conduct, performance and ethics.
- NICE (2018) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management. NICE guideline NG87. nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87
- NHS England (2022) Shared care protocols: ADHD.
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists (2021) Occupational therapy in mental health and neurodiversity.
- Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (2023) Clinical guidance: neurodevelopmental conditions.
- Social Work England (2019) Professional standards.
- World Health Organization (2019) ICD-11.
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