To ask about Right to Choose for child ASD assessment?

[seriouslynonames]

DD8 (year 3) has been diagnosed with ADHD recently. We ended up paying for a private assessment because when I spoke to the GP that was his recommendation based on local wait times, and due to DD's professional level masking in school, school did not see any reason to refer.

The assessor who diagnosed her now recommends she be assessed for autism as she picked up a number of things that indicate it, but couldn't diagnose as it was ADHD-only assessment.

I spoke to the GP who said I can self-refer to CAMHS for an NHS assessment. When I asked about Right to choose he wasn't able to explain how I go about this.

From what I can see after some googling, I need to get the GP to kick off the right to choose referral. So I will likely have to make yet another appointment as I don't think he went ahead and did it (he seemed to suggest I need to do it).

It's not clear to me which providers I can use. I have found Clinical Partners and Healios as possible options. So my questions are:

• am I right that GP gets the right to choose process started, rather than me?
• how do I know which provider to go for?
• are right to choose ASD assessments always online only?
• with an excellent masker would I be better off waiting on the regular NHS list for a face to face appt? Online would definitely be more convenient and less anxiety inducing for DD, but I wonder whether the assessor would get the full picture without seeing her in person.

We could just about afford to go private if that's the only option, but given the mixed things I hear about how (un)willing schools, LAs, GPs are to accept some private assessments I would prefer to do it via the NHS in one way or another this time.

Great to hear others' experiences, thank you!

Oh and we are Berks/Bucks area in case relevant

And last thing - the other option is we do nothing, as I know a diagnosis doesn't solve anything or unlock a load of magical support and it's another thing to put DD through. I do think it would be helpful to know one way or the other before she gets near transition to secondary school though (so we have a bit of time to play with, depending on wait times!!)

It may be different for children, but I was recently advised to to get an assessment by my threpaist.

I had to complete a form AQ10, then get an appointment with my GP for an assessment, and get the AQ10 to him in advance of that appointment.

Unfortunately, I don't know what the next step is, as the GP appointment isn't until 1 July.

I went through right to choose last year for my son's autism assessment and subsequent diagnosis.

Yes, you're right that GP does it. I emailed the surgery and asked who was best to speak with about it, and they suggested a telephone appointment with a GP who knew about it.

Local parents groups on Facebook are usually a good place to get providers recommended.

No, there was an hour face to face assessment for DS, and then I gave a history over Zoom which took about 3 hours combined as it was very in depth. I know a colleague whose child is going through the process said they also send someone into school to observe if they are uncertain after the face to face assessment.

Glaciers move slower than CAMHS, I have no regrets about going through the RTC pathway. School treats the diagnosis just the same as an NHS one (because it's through an accredited NHS provider so it bears the same weighting).

Oh and just remembered - the GP asked me to email in evidence from school etc, I sent them a timeline of things I'd noticed and a letter on headed paper from school stating that they had recognised traits of ASD. It all got sent off with the referral.

Thanks all.
I don't think school will provide anything helpful as they don't see it. But I have the ADHD report as evidence.
I have only found online providers so far, will have to see if I can get any local recommendations.
Will look at the AQ10 in the meantime
Thanks

Ah it’s a shame you didn’t do both from the outset, our combined was £2500 I think, making it slightly* cheaper than individually.

I think even with right to choose here, the waiting time is substantial. But the GP is the right place to start so I hope things get moving for you.