Psychiatry UK experiences? Referral anxiety.

[BeachedOff]

I had a long awaited appointment to ask for a referral for both ADHD and Autism today. I asked for an appointment with a doctor but it ended up being a Physician Associate (feel like I should have been told this but it turned out fine).

I went in with the letter from Psychiatry UK and the assessment forms filled out and was expecting to have to discuss my life story. But they literally said okay and just took my documents. It felt too easy and now I feel anxious and I'm not sure why? I thought I'd be relieved.

Apparently I will hear within a year - but I'm struggling with the fact that it is so open and that I won't get any confirmation once the referral is made. I really don't mind waiting for an assessment but would just love confirmation that I have been referred if that makes sense? Does anyone have any recent experience of how long it took to hear back from Psychiatry UK and if you got any referral confirmation.

I don't feel how I thought I'd feel. I just feel a bit worried that it's so open and I won't necessarily know if the referral has been made. Which I know is silly, also overthinking the Physician Associate thing - they were clearly able to do referrals.

I haven't had an appointment yet, however similar experience with gp (less than 2 minutes on the phone). Spoke to gp in mid May, had a text in mid July (asking me to log into the online portal). Think I needed proof of address and photo id. It then said I needed to wait for an appointment but didn't give a time frame. So far it's been very efficient.

That's great to hear thank you - it's reassuring to know that there is a bit of confirmation once they have processed the referral. I hope your appointment comes through soon!

You can check on the NHS app to see if the referral has been made. After six weeks or so you will get a login and some forms to complete, even though your actual appointment may be several months away.

Thank you for the replies.

I've had a call from the surgery this afternoon. I have to book a face to face appointment with a Doctor to go through it all again (as it's not something the Physician Associate can deal with).

Absolutely livid that I've spent a month working myself up for an appointment with a doctor to find out it was with a PA and now I have to go through the anxiety cycle all over again. I cried on the phone as it is making me so anxious and I'm worried all over again that I won't be referred.