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Autism assessment for adolescent via Right to Choose pathway

NAS15665

Hello, I am new to the site. My daughter (15 years old) has just been referred for autism assessment. We have been given the option of following the Right to Choose pathway, due to long waiting list in our NHS CAMHS. I am trying to find out information about these providers. One of the aspects I am checking is what sort of professionals /clinicians do carry out the assessment. I see that several of these providers do not have psychiatrists among their specialists but only psychologists. I want to know if a clinical team like this can actually make an accurate assessment. I also wonder what might happen if my daughter's issues do not stem form autism but from some other kind of condition. Will they be able to spot it?? Thanks in advance.

  • This particular NHS health authority explains it like this:

    "There are many clinics across England offering NHS neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessments to children, young people and adults. These clinics all work within an NHS Standard Contract and to a strict NHS service specification. .. You have probably heard of these clinics referred to as NHS Right To Choose clinics."

    NHS North East and North Cumbria - Understanding NHS Right To Choose and Patient Choice

    An important part of the assessment process is differential diagnosis, which involves clinicians considering whether other conditions might better account for symptoms than autism would. 

    There's loads of great information about the whole process here in the NAS's diagnosis hub, including, for example: 

    NAS - Criteria and tools used in an autism assessment

    NAS - Professionals involved in an autism assessment

    You could also contact any of the providers that you're considering using, and ask them to address your concerns / questions directly.

    There's a page here that you might be helpful for exploring RTC providers (including for autism). For example, go to England > Dorset > Jump to RTC Wait Information > Click on the Autism Child tab:

    ADHD UK - NHS Integrated Care Boards, Health Boards, and Health & Social Care Trusts

  • My daughter has recently been through an RTC assessment, with Clinical Partners, as the NHS waiting list was too long, I suppose technically she is still on the NHS waiting list. 

    I don't know enough about the qualifications and differences between the types of clinicians, so I can't really comment on that other than to say everyone we dealt with were very kind and empathetic.

    She didn't meet the criteria for either ADHD or ASD, but they have made recommendations for other services to get involved and investigate things further. It needs another GP referral to those services though.

    We're looking at the reports currently, as we're slightly concerned that they've attributed everything to an existing diagnosis of ME/CFS, but that's a topic for a different thread!

    Hope that's all useful

    M