The availability of ‘RTC’ has been spread on sites like TikTok

ONE of the country’s leading group of psychiatrists has stopped referrals in Camden after a huge surge in demand, believed to have been triggered by a series of waiting list “hack” TikToks.

Psychiatry UK, which provides online assessments for patients on the NHS, said it needed time to work through a backlog of cases that had built up this year. Patients have since 2018 had a “right to choose” (RTC) to be seen by any mental health care provider if there are long waiting lists on the NHS.

The RTC system has been widely publicised on social media, primarily TikTok, as an “open secret” in recent months, according to an NHS source.

The source said: “The NHS has been run down so much that waiting times are so long. So they brought in this RTC system in 2018 really as part of the privatisation agenda; it essentially forces NHS to pay for private work it is not being properly funded to do.

“Not many people knew about this RTC, and especially that you could get an online assessment. But now so many young people are finding out about it through social media – and they are demanding their GP makes the referral.”

NHS waiting times an ADHD and autism referrals assessment on the NHS following a referral from a GP are between one and two years.

Dr Ali Ajaz – a popular doctor on TikTok – said in a recent post: “If you think you have ADHD and want to fast track your assessment this is the post for you. Under the NHS, you have a legal right to choose a mental health care provider. Should you think the waiting time is way too long, you can choose an alternative provider. This right to choose option is relatively new for mental health care, so not many patients, GPs or doctors in general know about it.”

Many posts outline how to “beat the system” and how to “access private treatment for free”, including a post from Beth, who has a quarter of a million followers under the Living with ADHD handle, who said: “I went through Psychiatry UK under the right to choose because the waiting list in my area was ridiculously long. It was about six months. The process was a lot quicker than the NHS. It is a tool you can use to fast-track a diagnosis. If you had been told the waiting list is years, this is the post for you.”

Psychiatry UK, which says it is the country’s leading provider of online assessments, says its doctors and patients “can live anywhere in the world” but to practise for the company they must have held “a substantive NHS consultant post, be on the specialist register at the GMC, and be in good standing with the Royal College of Psychiatrists”.

Its statement said: “We are experiencing unprecedented demand for both autism and ADHD assessments.”

North London health chiefs said that the changes came into effect on Friday.