Private assessment

Yes, I paid for a private assessment after being on the NHS waiting list for a year with nothing happening. An NHS appointment did eventually come through, about a year and a half after I was referred, but by then I had my diagnosis so told them politely to shove it. It seems that there's a huge postcode lottery in terms of how long it takes you get an NHS appointment - depending on where you live you might be lucky and get one much quicker than I did.

It went fine. I was a bit worried when going private about how to tell somewhere was reputable, but the clinic I went to also does the local NHS assessments through outsourcing, so I figured it wasn't much different. I had an initial hour's pre-assessment consultation, then a longer assessment lasting about 2.5 hours, plus filled out a bunch of questionnaires.

I'd rather not have had to pay, but I was also desperate to know the answer and wasn't being given any clear indication of when I'd be seen on the NHS. The communications I did get from the NHS clinic also suggested to me that they were geared around assessing young people, whereas the clinic I went to specializes in diagnosing adults.

Yes, I paid for a private assessment after being on the NHS waiting list for a year with nothing happening. An NHS appointment did eventually come through, about a year and a half after I was referred, but by then I had my diagnosis so told them politely to shove it. It seems that there's a huge postcode lottery in terms of how long it takes you get an NHS appointment - depending on where you live you might be lucky and get one much quicker than I did.

It went fine. I was a bit worried when going private about how to tell somewhere was reputable, but the clinic I went to also does the local NHS assessments through outsourcing, so I figured it wasn't much different. I had an initial hour's pre-assessment consultation, then a longer assessment lasting about 2.5 hours, plus filled out a bunch of questionnaires.

I'd rather not have had to pay, but I was also desperate to know the answer and wasn't being given any clear indication of when I'd be seen on the NHS. The communications I did get from the NHS clinic also suggested to me that they were geared around assessing young people, whereas the clinic I went to specializes in diagnosing adults.