In short
Take what you wrote: a few concrete notes, any letter photos you confirmed, names of people who could complete informant forms, and dates you already have. Leave diagnosis language at the door. The GP decides whether to refer. NICE describes that adult referral route in primary care; ReadyPath does not walk it for you.
Why a pack is paperwork, not a verdict
A GP appointment is short. A pile of feelings in your head is hard to hand over. A short list of scenes you already typed is easier to show. That list is not a test result. It is not a score. It is not “I have ADHD” written by an app.
NICE NG87 states that adults presenting in primary care who do not have a childhood diagnosis should be referred for assessment by a mental health specialist trained in ADHD, where the guideline’s pattern and impairment criteria are met. That sentence belongs to NICE and to clinicians. You can read it. You cannot use ReadyPath as the referrer.
NHS.uk, on its ADHD pages, points people who want an assessment towards speaking with a GP (school routes apply for children). Again: speak. The site does not ask an iPhone to submit.
What is useful to have in one place
Keep the list small so you can start it. One paragraph of work or study examples. One paragraph of home examples. One childhood note if you have it — a report photo you confirmed, not a diagnosis you invented. A name and how you will ask an informant. Dates of previous letters. That is a pack-shaped pile, not a clinic file.
If a form is still blank, name the blank. Do not fill it with guesswork. Informant paperwork is theirs to complete. You can chase the blank; you cannot complete their memory.
If you cannot start the whole pile, photograph one letter. Date one receipt. Write three bullets. Park the rest. Structure in daily activities is language NICE uses when advising families of adults — as structure, not as a cure.
Written next action
Write one line you will show: a scene with when, where, and what slipped. Organisation and time management appear in NICE as ways ADHD may affect behaviour in coordinated care — not as a ReadyPath protocol.
Ask the GP — you still attend
Book the slot yourself. Bring the copy you assembled. Referral sits with the clinician in the room.
Review what you already wrote
The night before, read your three bullets aloud. Strike anything that sounds like a self-label. Keep scenes.
RCPsych: information is not a substitute for personalised medical advice
What not to bring as if it were proof
Do not bring an app percentage and call it readiness. Do not bring a ranked clinic list. ReadyPath will not invent one. Nearby lookups, if you use them later, are distance for logistics — never quality.
Do not treat national waiting figures as your appointment date. NHS Digital publishes England-level ADHD management information. Those numbers describe a system, not your practice.
RCPsych is clear that its own leaflets are not a substitute for personalised medical advice. A blog post is even less so. This page is pack admin.
A calm order you can actually finish
Put the phone on a table. Close the extra tabs. One list, one sitting. If the sitting fails, park. Come back to the same list — do not start a second pile in Notes, email, and a paper bag. Structure is the public idea; shame is not.
When the appointment ends, write what the GP asked you to do next. That note is yours. Follow their aftercare, not a path invented here.
Before you walk in
Charge the phone. Open the three bullets on the lock screen or Path so you are not scrolling in the corridor. If you freeze, read the first bullet only. The rest can wait for the question the GP actually asks.
Take a paper copy if a screen feels rude in that room. Export is a share-sheet action you choose; it is not a referral. Leave ranked clinic printouts at home — this project will not produce them.
If someone comes with you, agree who holds the list. One voice, one page. Informant stories belong on their form later, not as a debate in the chair.
NHS Digital’s national ADHD figures, if you glanced at them while waiting, stay national. They are not a script for this GP and not a promise about how long anything will take after you leave.
You may still forget a date. Write “date unknown” rather than inventing one. Blanks you admit are more useful than a confident fiction. The specialist, if a referral happens, will ask again. That is their job. Yours today is to arrive with scenes you already lived.
Sources
- NICE NG87
- NICE NG87 recommendations
- NHS.uk ADHD
- RCPsych ADHD in adults
- NHS Digital ADHD MI (national figures only)
Keep the pack on this iPhone. Get ReadyPath and write one page you can show.