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Choosing a Right to Choose provider for an autism assessment

blueduck21
Hello,

I am a female in my early 30s and have just been referred for an autism assessment via the Right to Choose Pathway. I've been sent a list of providers to choose from but I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed and not quite sure how to make this decision. Any advice or experience to share?

My initial thoughts are perhaps to choose the place where I can have an in-person assessment that supposedly has the shortest waiting time. However, I'm also worried about what kind of clinician would be doing the assessment and whether that makes a difference, and also whether some places may be better than others in terms of understanding of autism in women.

If I'm honest, I'm also a bit nervous about what the outcome of the assessment will be. I *think* an official diagnosis would be the most satisfying and validating outcome. I guess I'm actually a bit worried at the moment that I might not receive such a diagnosis.

  • I was referred to, assessed and diagnosed by Psychiatry UK.

    The process was relatively straight forward, my GP wrote the referral, I just provided them with an AQ10, you can get there here. I received a text and an email from Psychiatry UK to sign up to their online portal and answer some questionnaires, they were very in depth and quite draining, they took a few days but I was able to give a lot of information. There is also an informant report for someone who knows you well, I actually didn't get someone to complete one of these but it had no impact on my assessment. 

    Once they were completed I was contacted again by text and email to sign onto the portal and book an appointment. I could choose my psychiatrist from available appointments so I went with one who was interested in 'high functioning autism'. 

    The assessment itself was online, it was an hour long appointment on Teams. It actually worked well for me. He just went over the information on my forms and asked some further questions. At the end he summarized his thoughts and how my experiences fitted with the diagnosis, he gave my diagnosis and asked if I had any questions. 

    I got the report about four weeks later. I would recommend them, there is a fair bit of work for you to do with the forms but I think that's ideal as you can get all of your thoughts down ands the psychiatrist will likely have a good overview of you before the appointment. 

    I believe their waiting time is currently 3 months. 

    Good luck! 

  • I can only share our experience with my sons RTC assessment last December and it would probably be wrong of me to recommend the provider we chose as there are many others I have had no experience with. That said I was impressed with our choice which has now resulted in me being referred and with the same provider. This was an online assessment but I found it to work well for my son. I do understand your concerns as I have thought about this non stop since my referral 8 months ago. My concern was what if I don’t get the diagnosis where do I turn then and how do I explain my quirks now. I would suggest perhaps contacting each provider to see if they would be able to let you go in person if that’s your preference maybe? The reason I chose our provider was because they advertise as being affiliated with the NHS. I should take my own advice here when I say please try not to worry about it and try to think you need to do this for yourself and that will happen regardless of overthinking it or not. I am happy to let you know who we used if you wish but didn’t want to just stick it on here as I wouldn’t want to influence this important decision. 

    Take care