Psychiatry UK report - what to expect

If at all possible, reject all online-based meetings and insist via advocates if needs be, on face-to-face meetings - I’m going for a second opinion diagnosis face to face rather than online - by all means send reports via email but a diagnosis simply cannot be made via Zoom calls, it’s the same with meetings with GP’s and everything else, it must always be face to face, never online, with things as importance with this, regardless of how good the tech is 

I disagree, it is not as if there is a physical examination involved, your body being in the same room as the assessor is irrelevant.

It’s been pointed out to me when chatting to local sources of support in person that having a diagnosis via Zoom does not show certain “ways of being” that can only be observed “in person” 

I consider that for anyone beyond late adolescence, providing they do not have intellectual disability, that a history of 'symptoms' or traits and experiences should far outweigh the observation, for a couple of hours at most, of any clinician, however well qualified. Given that people mask and that very few people will behave authentically or naturally during a clinical evaluation, observation is not going to give an accurate picture for many people.

I consider that for anyone beyond late adolescence, providing they do not have intellectual disability, that a history of 'symptoms' or traits and experiences should far outweigh the observation, for a couple of hours at most, of any clinician, however well qualified. Given that people mask and that very few people will behave authentically or naturally during a clinical evaluation, observation is not going to give an accurate picture for many people.