Question GPs ask when assesing whether to refer you for an ADHD assesment?

[thatsalad]

I received my ASD diagnosis and the assessor advised me to ask for an ADHD referral because they think I have it. But I am the type of ASD who finds it very difficult to have a phone conversation when I don't know what I was going to be asked, so I was wondering what the GP will ask me when I request a referal?

@thatsalad Can you email / use an e-consult? When I was asking for an ASD referral (I went private for ADHD) I emailed my GP, explained the key things I struggle with and also attached an AQ50.

I went to my GP she's lovely, took me ages to work up courage. She gave me a questionnaire type form to complete but in my area, they will only refer on for a referral, if being neurodiverse impacts your personal relationships, ability to work and if you need to be medicated. absolute joke. I just gave up in the end

I can't see the GP's e-mail anywhere, but there is an option to send an admin request, do you think that will work?

This makes sense really. A formal diagnosis is only needed if it is impacting your life surely?

Yours should be very straightforward because another professional has recommended it.Does your GP have any options for booking appointments online or doing e-consults? The admin option does sound right because this is a straightforward request rather than something urgent?For my GP appointment to ask for a Right to Choose ADHD referral, I booked a non-urgent telephone appointment via their online service. In the appointment notes (we are asked for symptoms and what we want out of the appointment) I said the following:

• I had done a screener which suggested I might have ADHD and to contact my GP to discuss a referral.
• My "headline" ADHD traits that are severely impacting my life, based on questions from the screener (e.g. is being late for work going to get you sacked)
• My family history with neurodiversity. (You could mention your own ASD diagnosis here too)
• That I wanted either a referral to my chosen right-to-choose provider, or a longer appointment to discuss this further.

The GP called, and basically said what I'd written was enough, I didn't need to discuss anything with her at all (!) and she would make the referral. All she wanted me to do was to do their own online screener (which ended up being the same one I did) and asked me to bring the screener I did into the surgery as well. (Which I did along with the notes I had made, and the template letter from my right to choose provider)

The screener I did was this one: https://adhduk.co.uk/adult-adhd-screening-survey/ and it was the same as the one the GP asked me to do. I printed it off and wrote examples next to each question.

Good luck!

I think that's pretty standard across the board, in all honesty.

I'm in the process of getting an official autism diagnosis and my GP basically said that they will only refer people who are struggling in the ways you describe. I struggle massively with work (cannot hold down a full-time job or cope with more than 25 hours a week of work) and also need medication so he was quite happy to refer me on.

Unfortunately there's still a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to neurodiversity in women as we tend to do so much "masking" that it's impossible to see how much we actually struggle.