Psychiatry UK

I had it done recently. After I was added to their online portal they gave me some Microsoft Word .doc files for myself and an informant to fill in. They're pretty big and it took me a long time and I wrote a lot.

Afterwards I waited about 4 or 5 months they said I could book an appointment, which is done online with a tool where you can choose a specific doctor by name (and see their details or patient reviews) as well as the dates and times they were available, which might be 1-2 months away. So about 6-7 months until the appointment.

They asked my informant to fill out an online form, which wasn't particularly easy because it kept timing out and I do wonder if some of the answers had been lost because of that.

The actual diagnosis appointment was done over Microsoft Teams. I suspect what happens on that call wouldn't be the same for everyone, it depends on who is diagnosing, but in general they will probably want to get an idea about your childhood and your life, friends, how you cope, repetitive behaviours, sensory issues, and basically try to match it up with the diagnostic criteria, as well as rule out alternative explanations.

Afterwards they may give you a verbal diagnosis at the end of the call if they are confident, or they may want to go away and confer with colleagues. And then you wait ages for the written report.

You're welcome! My additional post from yesterday has thankfully now been released from spam prison :)

Thank you so much!

If you log in to their patient portal and go to "Notes", you should see the option to create a new note, to which you can then add attachments. When accessing the Notes section of the portal on a desktop computer, the New Note option is on the right hand side: 

Thank you for this. I can’t see an option to upload anything additional though. I wonder why it was flagged as spam

I've just replied with more info, but it's been flagged as spam, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the moderators to release it. I won't type it again, as it will probably just get sin-binned again. Ugh.

I'm afraid that I can't / wouldn't want to try and tell you exactly how they'll approach your assessment, as it may differ from case to case and I wouldn't want to mislead you.

For example, in my case, at the end of the appointment, the lead assessor told me that my autism had been very obvious to them from my childhood history alone. So I think they'd already felt confident about my diagnosis before my appointment had even begun.

The people involved were very kind and considerate. For most of the time, I was on a joint video call with a psychiatrist and a specialist nurse. The nurse was seated relative to her camera such that she wasn't looking at me directly, which was very thoughtful. The psychiatrist broke off for a while towards the end (perhaps to consult / confirm with others or just to gather his thoughts / review his conclusion, I'm not sure).

The discussion was focused mainly around my answers to the questionnaire, so it was more a case of expanding on things that I already felt prepared for, rather than being presented with any new / unexpected questions or topics.

When they diagnosed me at the end, I cried with relief - and they handled it with great kindness. I suspect that might happen a lot! :) 

I hope this info is of some help.

I understand, but no need to panic. In respect of the extra information that you haven't yet provided, I suggest putting it all into a new, separate document (referencing the original questions to which each piece of extra info refers) and then uploading that via the portal. It will then also be taken into consideration ahead of your appointment.

Bunny said:

received mine in PDF form, but converted my self report into MS Word, so that I could fit in more than the boxes would otherwise have allowed. You could just ask them for an alternative format,

I have completed the forms, I didn’t think about converting them so just gave as much information as it would allow, which wasn’t a lot!

I have done it through NHS right to choose. I just want to know what to expect from the assessment and obviously I haven’t given a lot of information on the forms now I am panicking

Before my appointment mid-late last year, Psychiatry-UK sent self-report and informant report pre-assessment questionnaires. I received mine in PDF form, but converted my self report into MS Word, so that I could fit in more than the boxes would otherwise have allowed. You could just ask them for an alternative format, but I enjoyed converting it myself :)

The self-report questionnaire is extensive and has a final section for writing about anything else that you feel it might be helpful for them to know. You're also invited to submit such things as school reports and any previous psychiatric/psychological reports. You can submit other documents too, if you think they'll help.

I took time to make sure I was fully happy with what I'd prepared before submitting it.

It's unclear whether you're using them via the NHS right to choose or directly / privately. Either way, their standard cost includes a certain amount of time. If extra is needed, then they can and will do that, at additional cost.

In my case, my completed forms had already given them a lot of what they needed, and I was able to answer follow up questions easily enough.

I was diagnosed during the appointment and a follow-up letter / report came soon afterwards.

I wish you all the best with your assessment.