DH wants to use a specialist physio

All physios are qualified.
I'd rather use a fairly local one as they know the local system for referring you back to the NHS. Nothing beats someone phoning the local hospital and getting you an x-ray booked for tomorrow, with no hassle or charges because they all know each other by first names.

He's not going to become an elite athlete by going to a fancy pants physio. He's also going to be her least important client.

YANBU. My DH is autistic and this is in the realms of things he would do, especially without me stepping in as a reality check. Doing things that aren't at all logical but make sense according a thought pattern he wont change is pretty par for the course.

I think you've got two options. Could you get him to go and talk to another physio more locally and really stress eg the inconvenience of the commute to central London.

I don't know how you deal with money but could you say, x is our budget for a physio, fancy physio charges y, so the difference comes from your fun spend? That way, you can mentally write it off as just a thing DH does.

I wouldn’t normally enquire but what impact would this have on you financially? Is the cost “in budget” or would it mean going without some significant? I’m the first to say that not all autistic people are the same but I’m an SEN teacher with autistic family members and the ones that particularly struggle with physical touch (esp from strangers) can justify it “because they are an expert”.

I think it will be quite hard to change his line of thinking on this OP.

How important actually is it and how much would you actually save, compared to the aggro it would cause?

It's important that he's comfortable with his healthcare, even if it seems irrational to you.

If he wants to go to her he can pay for it himself. I wouldn’t let it impact other budgets you may have. Also don’t get roped into going with him.

She has very honestly told him the crack that he is wasting his money for something he could get much cheaper elsewhere but if he wants she is happy to help.
Why waste money for a simple issue. I had tennis elbow last year and I used an ex army physio at £40 an hour and he was brilliant....down to earth and got on with it. Why waste money?

I totally agree that it sounds like it will take more money than strictly necessary. Is it a case of this Physio or nothing (all or nothing thinking being very common for autistic people)? If he is genuinely anxious and not prone to splashing the cash on things I would probably go with the person he feels comfortable with but encourage him to try and establish a rapport with a local, more reasonable Physio (once an injury happens once it is more likely to happen again) or discuss what he is willing to cut to pay for this if he feels it is the only option going forward.

I have seen 3 different NHS physios and 2 private physios, all useless. I saw someone who wasn't formally trained as a physio but had done a lot of courses on her own and she was very good. I feel you have to try people to see if they have any idea of what they are doing.

I've been shocked at how little qualified physios know, it seems even less than I do. Perhaps it's because they don't understand hypermobile bodies, but since bodies are their job they should know a lot more.

I suspect he thinks she is the best and he wants the best.

Good luck changing that.

I am not from the UK and my experience of physios in my home country (not Aus) is far superior to those here so I would be inclined to agree with him. If he goes to her and isn't getting result fast then I would leave but to me, being trained in Australia would be a positive.

Is this injury impacting his daily life? Is he in pain? I think if you answer yes to both them agree to a short course of appointments. I went through a few nhs and private physios before getting one who works with athletes and the difference was amazing. It went from getting a folder down from a shelf and listing exercises for me to do to actual full assessment of alignment, gait and then weekly bodily manipulation which corrected everything for me.

Unfortunately the initial training for Australian physios is better than that for UK physios. But UK physios are often ahead of US ones in many areas. And I say that as a UK trained physio! But many many UK physios will go on to be equal or better than Australian ones through the postgraduate training and experience, if they are willing to seek it out, it will vary by person. It sounds like she is trustworthy, in that she told you that your DH doesn't need her level of skill/experience, and that immediately gives her positive points for me, I see too many professionals, especially ones abroad, telling people they need things they don't, just to make money from them.
The average cost for private physio is around £60 an hour for a non specialist, as a highly experienced physio in a specialist area I could easily charge £80. Is she charging more than that?
Ultimately he will only get out of it what he puts into it - following advice and exercises, regardless of the expertise of the physio.

Would he accept a local recommendation from someone who plays his sport? I got a rec for a local running expert from running friends and she's brilliant. I went back with swimming problems even though she's a running expert. Equally I ask my midwife and mum friends who to go to for pelvic physio rather than my mostly male running friends. Alternately, it's a bit mean but can you guilt him? She maybe doesn't really want the business because he's not elite enough so boring, and he's taking a slot away from a real athlete. Better to go to someone who understands the limits of amateurs and how much recovery work he will actually do

find some local physios - ask new one if she would refer him to one - he'll trust her advice

Kindly, I think you need to try and separate “worth it” in your/most people’s eyes and what your DH needs. I don’t know, he may be being a little Lord fauntleroy demanding the best just because or he may have rationalised this situation in his brain genuinely as best he can and not be able to flex to another option. You know him best. You know which it is.