To add to the posts recently added. My experience was as follows. After waiting four and a half years on the NHS waiting list for ADHD. In the end, I got a private diagnosis:
Diagnosis = £1600
Monthly appointments = £150 (medication was dependent on your attending the monthly appointment)
Monthly medication = £130
Each monthly appointment consisted of 30 minutes of aggressive sales tactics regarding their services, which ranged from group to electroconvulsive therapy. There were also 5 minutes of chat and then the writing of a prescription. The offer of shared care was raised, and if it hadn't been for my research, it would never have been made.
When I finally got to be assessed by NHS (which had to be done, or they would no longer pay for my medication). I had to start the whole process from scratch despite the diagnosis coming from a certified psychiatrist.
I had to start the whole process from scratch despite the diagnosis coming from a certified psychiatrist.
Were you prescribed different meds or different strengths of the meds as a result of the re-evaluation?
It may be that the NHS consultant thought you had been oversold the treatment and meds so they wanted to get you onto a programme that they thought was correct.
The meds do seem expensive. The psychiatrist should have been able to write a prescription to be filled at the chemist the same as an NHS doctors prescription if my understanding of prescriptions is correct.
The whole setup smells off to me - more than a little unethical.
My GP practice will not write an NHS prescription for ADHD meds if diagnosis and private prescription is from a non NHS clinic. I think this is happening in other parts of the UK as I recall reading bits about the problem.
My GP practice will not write an NHS prescription for ADHD meds if diagnosis and private prescription is from a non NHS clinic. I think this is happening in other parts of the UK as I recall reading bits about the problem.
I wonder if part of the problems with having a private diagnosis that the NHS dosen't want to recognise, is that there seem to be so many cowboys out there?
I agree with you, it is very unfair. The surgery might argue that NICE guidelines are just guidelines. In Northern Ireland, refusal to write NHS prescriptions for ADHD drugs from private referrals is increasingly common and my niece is affected. She is a patient at a surgery miles away from mine.
People who are living with cancer and MS are not able to access some drugs that would prolong their life although I think in these cases the decision was made at a higher level, possibly it was the health trust or the government’s decision.
It should not be the case. The NICE guidelines for adult autism make no mention of how an assessment is funded, the only criteria for a valid diagnosis is the qualifications and specialisms of the clinician or clinicians making the diagnosis.
Could you imagine an NHS trust saying that a private diagnosis of heart disease was invalid? It is sheer nonsense and people should complain.
