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Private ASD testing in the UK

picitup

Hi All

I guess many have been where I am atm.  I was diagnosed as bipolar around 20 years ago, but have always wondered about being autistic.  The last time I had some MH support, a number of different professionals asked me if I thought I might be autistic.  They agreed to refer me to the NHS service to be tested.  But......

The wait is 5 years and at 66, might be dead then.  Also I asked how it was going and where I was in the queue about 12 months ago, but they said if they ring up, they are told "don't ask, we'll be in touch" which is fairly useless.  That brings up the other worry.  Many have had the experience of long waiting times in the NHS and when you chase it up, you find you've 'fallen off the radar' and are no longer in the queue.  So.....

I decided to research getting tested privately.  I did find a site:

https://connecttoautism.org/ 

So I'm going to give them a go.  You can book a free 15 minute consultation which I'll do when I get home.  I like the charging structure as it's £300 for an initial test then a further £1200 for the full test.  Not cheap, but you have the opportunity of jumping ship at the £300 mark if they think the full test is not warranted.

I think I'm going to go for it and will update this thread on what happens and what I think of it.  She says the diagnosis is recognised in the UK, so that's a plus for me.  I have no affiliation with them and will proceed with caution.

If anyone has any experience of private testing,  I'd be very interested to hear about other services and your experience of them.

Have a nice day y'all......

Steve

  • I’m not in a RTC area, but if, for whatever reason, you decide to go privately after all, just check that the private provider autism assessment process is in accordance with NICE guidelines and that is accepted by the NHS. 

    I clicked on your link and had a quick scan of the assessor. I see she has experience of working as a team, but I can’t see anything about her offering assessment by multi disciplinary team, which is what NICE guidelines requires.

    I was on the waiting list for an NHS diagnosis, so I contacted the NHS Autism Clinic who told me they needed the assessment completed by a multi disciplinary team and that it should be within NHS guidelines. My private assessment was completed over several appointments, face to face, and some of the assessment required me to do small manual tasks. I am glad I had a face to face assessment as it enabled a much more detailed medical report and feedback.

  • in reply to picitup

    You're most welcome! 

    Another benefit of using a "qualified provider" via RTC (vs using any other private provider) is that it provides confidence (in both your mind, and that of others such as your GP or other medical professionals) about the quality and credibility of the assessor's findings - including the assessment having complied with NICE guidelines.

    Having been provided via the NHS, an RTC diagnosis is considered to be equivalent, in that sense, to the NHS having provided the diagnosis itself, and will be recognised accordingly. 

  • in reply to Bunny

    Thank you.  I do live in England and have recently been reading about the RTC pathway for other reasons.  I wsa prepared to fork out the £1500, but it's quite a chunk for me, so if I could get it free on the NHS, that would be just dandy and 4 months is much better than 5 years!

    I'll check the links out you provided, thank you.  I do like forums and always have.  So much shared knowledge!

    Cheers

    Steve

  • in reply to katniss27

    Hi thanks for the info, I'll certainly check them out although and am quite attracted to  's reply below.  Short time scales and £1500 cheaper sounds good.  Have a good day.... Grin

  • Hi Steve,

    I recently received my private autism and adhd diagnoses from RTN diagnostics. My experience was good, though I wish there was more support offered at the end stage. I wish you the best of luck.

  • Hi and welcome to the community.

    If you live in England, then you might like to ask your GP about re-referring you using the Right to Choose pathway (RTC), which you are entitled to use instead if you wish.

    In England (only), this enables access to certain, approved, private autism assessment providers who typically have much shorter waiting lists than the NHS, but with your referral and assessment still fully funded by the NHS. 

    I was on an NHS waiting list for two years before I learned about RTC and switched to it (on the recommendation of an NHS psychiatrist). My assessment and diagnosis (I chose to use Psychiatry UK) then followed around just four months later.

    Some examples of RTC providers are listed here.

    More information about RTC is included here:

    NAS - How to request an autism assessment