Private diagnosis?

Remember too that support may be available from other sources. Depending on your circumstances, support may be available through your college or university, through an employer or the JobCentre Access to Work Scheme, through voluntary agencies etc.  Often the support required for autism (as opposed to comorbidities such as anxiety or depression) is not medication but psycho-social and educational support, mentoring, coaching etc.

I was told by a GP that even if I got a formal autism diagnosis, I would not get any support. However, treatment for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, suicidal feelings, etc. should be available without such a diagnosis. I expect that there is a wait for NHS therapy sessions, but a GP should still prescribe antidepressant or anti anxiety medication.

I hope things improve.

I was privately diagnosed by an NHS consultant psychiatrist. Many clinicians who work for private providers also work for the NHS - but check in each case!

The NHS is in a mess. That is now official.  You could contact your MP, write to the Chairman of the Health Authority and other official channels. Or you could paint yourself blue and dance naked on the village green, which would be just as ineffectual but slightly more entertaining.

He could get a private diagnosis if he or the family can afford it. The question regarding NHS prescriptions is interesting - his GP ought to be able to prescribe for a condition, irrespective of by whom that condition was diagnosed. The problem is where medication is recommended for "shared care" by the GP with advice from a consultant, and the GP will not accept clinical responsibility without "cover" by a NHS consultant. Has anybody spoken with the GP?

I suspect any medication would be for other comorbid conditions such as depression or anxiety, not for autism specifically. (As far as I am aware there is no treatment for simple autism, only side-effects.)  In that case the GP should treat the other condition and the autism diagnosis would be incidental.

Not advice, just my opinion which costs you nothing and may be worth every penny.

Hi Fiona I am sorry to hijack this thread #95924. It is a shame that things are so different all around the country. I have joined a group run by the council who doesn't limit membership. On Thursday, I met my first ever fellow autistics in a long life of only knowing allistics. There are various courses (nothing ground-breaking, but still.) I feel very lucky when I read posts like yours.

The NHS would treat emergency but routine treatment would have to come via the private sector responsible for diagnosing the condition according to their treatment protocol. There are many cases where private surgery has to be emergency repaired by the NHS (because private don't have any emergency capability), but if it's not an emergency the person goes back to the private provider.

If you wanted treatment on NHS you'd still have to join the waiting list for an NHS scan to verify the private scan. Xray might be quicker as there's usually not much of a waiting list for them, but other scans would take longer to wait for. Until the NHS received verification of the problem or diagnosis, they could not start routine treatment.

I wonder what you are expecting/hoping in terms of post-diagnostic support? I was diagnosed earlier this year aged 51 and wasn't really offered any. There is a group I could join for newly diagnosed adults but spaces are extremely limited and only come up a few times a year, so I'm still to decide if I want to try it.

In terms of prescriptions, that has been the case for as long as the NHS has been in place. If you see a private GP and get a prescription from them, you need to keep going back to that private GP to get a renewal. And pay full price for it. The reason is generally that private GPs have access to more variety and more expensive drugs which are not available on the NHS. Sometimes this is because of limited evidence of their effectiveness, sometimes it's a cost thing, sometimes it's because there is a cheaper alternative which might be just as effective. NHS GPs are private businesses doing work on behalf of the NHS, private GPs are private businesses doing work to make their own profits.

Happy to help out. As far as I'm aware an adult autism assessment is shorter and less 'involved' than a childhood diagnosis and is cheaper if done privately. There is far more of an element of observation and testing in childhood assessment than in adult assessment, which is more reliant on 'case history'.

Hi

We received my 17 year old daughter's private diagnosis this week, the cost was £1500 for a single assessment (ASD or ADHD) or £2200 for a combined assessment. We opted for combined, and the process took around 8 months total. The company was called RTN mental health. Both school and GP are happy to work from this diagnosis, in fact our GP recommended we went private to speed things up. He said he hates that this is the situation, but going private can knock 4 years off the wait time.

Good luck x

I'm no expert, but if a private x-ray found that I had a lung problem, there is no way the NHS could refuse to treat me because it was discovered privately.

Martin, thanks so much for your generous and kind response. He's been given detail of Psychiatry UK from the GP MH Team, but  looking at the detail can't use until he's 18, unless it's done privately - another one to go back and check with the NHS. I wonder f we use someone from the list and get it done pre-18 (if possible), it might be more straightforward to have it recognized by the NHS in the future. Nothing appears to be remotely

Once he is 18 he can get a fairly straightforward private adult autism assessment. This varies in price from around £600.00 to £2,000.00, but seems to average around the £1K mark. Under the 'Right to Choose' scheme a private autism assessment can be paid for by the NHS, but you need to convince your GP to apply for it. As the NHS does pay private autism assessment providers it is strange that your contacts in the NHS do not know of any. I was given a private diagnosis by Psychiatry UK ( https://psychiatry-uk.com/ ), which is used by the NHS through 'Right to Choose'. Following the receipt of my diagnosis, my GP prescribed medicines that the psychiatrist who diagnosed me recommended (for a co-morbid condition), so I had no problems with the NHS recognising my diagnosis.