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.
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.
If a patient chooses to be assessed privately (ie outside of the NHS system), then - unless their GP is agreeable to entering in a Shared Care Agreement (SCA) with that private provider, which they are not obliged to do - that patient will then also need to pay privately for their ongoing medications.
To avoid this issue, people who are considering seeking a private ADHD diagnosis can first check whether their GP will be willing to enter into an SCA with the provider they're intending to use:
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.
If a patient chooses to be assessed privately (ie outside of the NHS system), then - unless their GP is agreeable to entering in a Shared Care Agreement (SCA) with that private provider, which they are not obliged to do - that patient will then also need to pay privately for their ongoing medications.
To avoid this issue, people who are considering seeking a private ADHD diagnosis can first check whether their GP will be willing to enter into an SCA with the provider they're intending to use:
