Yorkshire enters the ADHD market — but not to make a profit

The private ADHD assessment market in the UK is growing fast. With NHS waiting lists for adult diagnosis stretching to years in many areas – and closed to new referrals in others – commercial providers have moved quickly to fill the gap. For most, the business model is straightforward: high demand, limited supply, strong margins.

Sort Health, which opened for bookings in May, has been built on a different set of principles.

The West Yorkshire service is part of Bevan Community Benefit Society, a legal structure that locks in social purpose at the organisational level. There are no shareholders. Surplus cannot be distributed privately. Every penny above operating costs is reinvested back into Bevan services: the inclusion health work of its parent organisation, Bevan Community Benefit Society, which has delivered NHS services across West Yorkshire since 2011.

Bevan Community Benefit Society holds two CQC Outstanding ratings and runs two GP practices alongside its NHS inclusion health services in West Yorkshire.

“Private ADHD assessment has developed a poor reputation in some quarters,” says Mathew Sidebottom, Sort Health’s Director. “High prices, impersonal processes, a sense that you’re just a number. We’ve designed everything about Sort Health to be the opposite of that.”

A response to market need

The context Sort Health is launching into is well documented. Over 700,000 people in England are currently waiting for an NHS ADHD assessment. In Leeds, the waiting list stands at 4,500 people and is closed to new adult referrals, with an estimated wait of up to ten years for those already on it. The picture across West Yorkshire, and the rest of the country, is broadly similar.

Commercial providers have grown significantly in response, but the sector has attracted sustained criticism. Consumer concerns about pricing, clinical rigour and the transactional nature of the assessment process have been widely reported. In December 2025, the government launched an independent review into ADHD and mental health services, led by Professor Peter Fonagy, with findings expected this summer.

Sort Health’s founders argue that the profit-for-purpose model addresses these concerns in a structural rather than cosmetic way. Without pressure to maximise revenue per patient, the service can be designed around clinical need.

What the service offers

Sort Health offers adult ADHD assessments online across the UK and face-to-face in Bradford. Assessments are conducted by experienced healthcare professionals who have carried out ADHD assessments within the NHS.

The service is built around continuity of support rather than a single transactional appointment. A dedicated care navigator guides clients from first enquiry through to post-assessment follow-up, including support with pre-assessment paperwork and a personal call after diagnosis. Payment plans are available through Klarna.

Surplus with a purpose

The reinvestment model places Sort Health in a growing category of social enterprises using trading income to cross-subsidise public benefit work.

For Bevan Community Benefit Society, the rationale is straightforward: the demand for private ADHD assessment exists and is not going away. The question is whether that demand is met by organisations extracting value from a struggling health system, or by organisations putting it back in.

“We’re not here to replace the NHS,” says Sidebottom. “We’re here because the NHS is overwhelmed and people simply cannot wait. Every assessment we deliver helps reduce the pressure on a system that is struggling to cope.”

Sort Health is now open for bookings. Further information is available at sorthealth.org.uk.