Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
Recieved a diagnosis via right to choose using clinical partners. I was assessed by an OT and speech language therapist, website states they followed nice guidelines. I received an autism diagnosis.
Would these professionals be qualified to diagnose? I like to make sure they got it right. Had a 1 hour session and a 2 hour one.
Just see a lot saying private/RTC over diagnose.
They should be able to tell you the qualifications of the people doing the assessments and how their diagnostic process relates to guidelines.
In my diagnostic report they provided the credentials of my assessors (a clinical psychologist and a speech and language therapist) and listed all the processes they used and how they met the guidelines. My assessors were extremely thorough.
Taken verbatim from the NICE guidelines for the assessment of ASD, "Diagnostic assessment, which in the UK uses ICD-10, is often within a multi-disciplinary team but at a minimum is by a qualified clinician, usually a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist." From the document: Autism Recognition, referral, diagnosis and management of adults on the autism spectrum, National Clinical Guideline Number 142, p. 25.
The word 'usually' would not preclude the combination of people who assessed you, but I would expect a clinician to be involved somewhere. Perhaps a clinician looked over the paperwork you submitted?
An American viewpoint can be seen here: leader.pubs.asha.org/.../
That your diagnosis was NHS funded would tend to suggest that NICE guidelines were followed.