Recommendations for private autism diagnosis

I think that the primary problem that causes the ridiculously long NHS adult autism assessment backlogs are the methods in use, which seem to be essentially based on the approach that is necessary for diagnosing children. This is also the most long-winded and expensive approach, which is largely reliant on observation and testing by a whole team of clinicians. The vast majority of autistic adults are capable of describing their traits, problems and history. The need for extensive observation and extensive testing does not exist for assessing most adults, after all the majority of autistic people are of average or above average intelligence. The official NICE guidelines state that the minimum for a valid adult autism diagnosis is one suitably qualified clinician (specifically a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or neurologist) with specialist training in autism. If the NHS adopted this approach for assessing adults without intellectual disability the waiting lists would relatively quickly become reasonable.

Instead, the NHS funds commercial providers to do single clinician assessments for them through the 'Right to Choose' scheme, which is quite an unnecessarily expensive option for the public purse, not to mention being plain stupid.

I think that the primary problem that causes the ridiculously long NHS adult autism assessment backlogs are the methods in use, which seem to be essentially based on the approach that is necessary for diagnosing children. This is also the most long-winded and expensive approach, which is largely reliant on observation and testing by a whole team of clinicians. The vast majority of autistic adults are capable of describing their traits, problems and history. The need for extensive observation and extensive testing does not exist for assessing most adults, after all the majority of autistic people are of average or above average intelligence. The official NICE guidelines state that the minimum for a valid adult autism diagnosis is one suitably qualified clinician (specifically a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or neurologist) with specialist training in autism. If the NHS adopted this approach for assessing adults without intellectual disability the waiting lists would relatively quickly become reasonable.

Instead, the NHS funds commercial providers to do single clinician assessments for them through the 'Right to Choose' scheme, which is quite an unnecessarily expensive option for the public purse, not to mention being plain stupid.