43. Refusal scripts
If your GP has just told you they won't take over your ADHD prescription, this happens a lot. These three scripts come from people on r/ADHDUK who have been through it. They keep the conversation focused on the facts.
Print these off or save them to your phone before the appointment. Read them out if you need to, you will not be the first patient to do exactly that. Try to stay calm, ask in this order, and treat a refusal as information rather than a final answer.
1. When your old GP supported shared care and your new one won't.
"My previous GP supported my care under a shared-care agreement with my ADHD provider. Has your practice policy changed, or is this a personal clinical decision?"
Why it works. This separates the GP as a person from the practice as an institution. Most refusals are practice-wide or ICB-led, not personal, and naming that lets the GP answer without feeling attacked. If they say it's policy, you have grounds to ask for the policy in writing. If they say it's personal, you have grounds to ask for a different GP at the practice.
2. When the refusal sounds blanket but unexplained.
"Is this refusal based on practice policy, or on guidance from the Local Medical Committee, the Primary Care Network, or the Integrated Care Board? I'd like to understand the source so I can take it up at the right level."
Why it works. GPs sometimes refuse on the basis of LMC guidance they've seen but cannot quite cite. Asking calmly for the source either gets you the document (useful for an ICB complaint) or surfaces that the refusal is less formal than implied. Either way the conversation moves forward.
3. When you want the refusal in writing, without it being a fight.
"Could I please have a copy of the policy your decision is based on, or a short letter confirming the refusal and the reason? I need it for my records and for my ADHD provider."
Why it works. Asking for a decision in writing is a reasonable request and can help the conversation. GPs are far more careful with a written refusal than a verbal one, and many will reconsider rather than commit a refusal to paper. If they do put it in writing, you have what ADHD UK and your ICB need to act.
Your next moves, in order
- Get the refusal in writing, citing the specific policy or LMC guidance.
- Send it to your private or RTC provider, who may have a template letter and can sometimes contact your GP for you.
- Complain to the ICB (Integrated Care Board) for your area, find it via the NHS website. ADHD UK has a template letter for this too.
- Report the refusal to ADHD UK at adhduk.co.uk. They track refusals nationally and use the data to push for policy change.
- Switch GP surgery if you can, r/ADHDUK keeps a maintained community list of practices that do shared care and ones that refuse. Switching is free and the new practice cannot ask why.
- Last resort, stay on private prescription. Costs vary, so check with your provider. Some people do this for years rather than fight the shared-care battle. It is not failure.
NHS services, provider availability, waiting times and local arrangements change. Check current information with your GP, the provider or GOV.UK. Last checked September 2026.