Calling UK readers.... UK adhd / uk add experience

[HowCome]

Hi Folks,

Great community, thankyou!

Any UK readers?

Any experience of private psychiatrist for private diagnosis and initial treatment?

I have to wait 2 years for NHS treatment.

(2years from when i get the forms back!!! Designed to save the NHS money, short-term?!?)

Many thnx!

[Mark_in_Wales_CVA]

Hi,

I initially tried the NHS route, GP referred to MH team. Phone call with MH team after 2-3 weeks - looks like you have anxiety/depression - here's two courses you should take and we'll see. Two courses and about 9 months months later, nothing doing. Decided to go for a private diagnosis, about £800, with a team that specialises in ADHD. Presented this diagnosis (all done using the same methods and tests the NHS would use) to the NHS GP/MH team, MH team still want to make their own assessment - I think its a psychiatrist thing to try and disprove what another psychiatrist has diagnosed, some sort of professional superiority complex(!). Partly due to Covid, my face-to-face diagnosis will not be completed until at least 1 year after presenting the private diagnosis. So all in all about two years to a diagnosis. I'm living in Wales, and as you will see here, all areas of the UK are different in their speed/efficiency of diagnosis. But I would say two to three years can be about the 'average' for an adult, unless you are lucky enough to meet an NHS MH Team that will nail an ADHD diagnosis straight out of the box....

Mark

[HowCome in reply to Mark_in_Wales_CVA]

Thanks, Mark!

I’ve booked something privately...

....but think i’d better get on with the NHS forms!! In the hope of getting back out of private follow-up & private prescriptions.

I know we are lucky to have nhs in the UK, but its tough waiting, now i finally figured out the cause of my functioning difficulties.

(Am paying (big!) for private coaching, and i am working hard, and making some progress, but its like a whack-a-mole... fix one thing, another pops up, fix that, and another, fix that but then i’ve had a relapse in the first issue/skill!!

So its no more a magic solution that meds will be.... and getting the impression i’d best try the two together!!)

I’m going to ask my GP (or the medical secretary) about who they recognise, re private diagnosis.. at least try and link the two together.

Wonder if others would share their “go private” experiences, or the transition back to the NHS.

[aniek in reply to HowCome]

Hello there - how are you getting on?

I'm in a similar situation - my GP in London said there is four(!) year wait for NHS referral for adult ADHD assessment+diagnosis/treatment. I was encouraged to go private - and while they were reluctant to recommend a particular practice/psychiatrist/hospital - my GP suggested I try Nightingale Hospital. It's hard to tell what's worth spending money on - when you don't know how much money it could take with a particular hospital/practice.