Private ADHD diagnosis. Any recommendations?

[Thenoseymother]

Has anyone had their child privately diagnosed and willing to share who they have used? Any recommendations would be great. A lot I’ve seen are via zoom call and would much prefer a face to face one if possible. Thank you

Might be worth saying what area you're from. You don't want someone recommended in Devon if you live in Scotland

That would help 🤣 I’m in the south west. But willing to travel within reason.

Hi, no recommendations but just some things to be aware of should you go for a private ADHD diagnosis (I work in CAMHS within the ADHD team) - if, should your child receive a diagnosis and if medication is recommended and you think you may wish to return to NHS care for future medication - please make sure that the private provider's report meets NICE guidelines, otherwise the report will be rejected by CAMHS and you'll have to start all over again on the NHS waitlist. Please ask the private provider for details of all additional costs - the diagnosis is just the start - there will be further charges for prescriptions and medication reviews, which can often be hundreds of pounds per year. If the provider will not disclose these, run for the hills! We would always advise opening a referral with CAMHS and staying on the waitlist, even if you receive a private diagnosis whilst waiting - you will not move up the queue faster for medication through the NHS with a private diagnosis. Hope that helps.

We used adhd360. The doctor was good and she managed to get ds to engage despite being on a screen. She was professional and confident.

It cost around £500 (just for diagnosis- nothing else) and we got a copy of the letter to the gp. the wait was around 3 months

i would have preferred face to face as well, but couldn’t find anything with a reasonable wait time for face to face. I had a number of people recommended the Oxford autism and adhd centre for face to face incase that’s helpful?

There has been a lot of problems recently with clinics giving a positive diagnosis with little info so please pick a reputable company. This should be done face to face, not via Zoom and they should also be consulting the school. Costs are around the £1200 mark so beware of cheaper alternatives

Have you watched the bbc panorama documentary on private adhd clinics

I came to say the same thing. They mention adhd360 - I wouldn't go anywhere near them

As someone said, if you want to go back NHS for shared care after diagnosis and titration with the psychiatrist, make sure they are recognised by NHS. (I decided the safest way is to find someone who works with NHS alongside their own practice)

There's also a crucial difference between psychiatrist and psychologists: i remember that psychologist can diagnose but can't prescribe medication, whilst a psychiatrist can do both. (Please double check. At least that's what I remember).

You need to factor in the cost of diagnosis (including a formal report) and titration cost + prescription cost if you want to have the dosage tested and agreed before going back to the gp for shared care. The titration process can last for months and each increase of dosage might cost you £££, as it might involves a meeting with the psychiatrist. I heard some were happy to upper the dosage via email without charging you. But that's not the case with ours.

Within the shared care agreement, your DC still needs to meet the psychiatrist every six months to assess any side effects or health concerns. So that would cost again.

Sounds like a rabbit hole, but it's all worth it.

Forgot to say, once the right dosage is fixed, the shared care agreement with GP can be set up within two weeks also, as long as everyone does what they're supposed to do. After that, just make request for new prescription monthly with the GP directly.

or so

To add to all the other good advice already given. I’d look for someone who’ll do a full neurodevelopmental assessment, not just looking for ADHD. I thought my child had ADHD and the first clinic we saw agreed. I wasn’t happy with the doctor though, so got a second opinion and he’s actually Autistic. They think he may have ADHD as well but need to review that in a few years. I very much agree with the suggestion of finding someone who also works for the NHS still. I’m miles away so can’t recommend who we used sorry.

Used adhd360 and they were/are brilliant.

"There's also a crucial difference between psychiatrist and psychologists"

The key difference is to be a psychiatrist you have to become a doctor first, then specialise. To be a psychologist, you just do a psychology degree. This is why psychiatrists are allowed to prescribe meds: because they are doctors they understand how they will affect the body and might interact with other meds you are taking.

That's come in for a fair bit of criticism, the big one being that the doctor who gave the negative diagnosis approached the reporter with the idea for the story in the first place.

We used a private provider through our insurer for DD and she has been taking EquasymXL for about 3months without any major side effects. We’ve just had a letter from CAMHS advising that as we have asked for shared care, our case will be reviewed before it’s agreed. Not sure what exactly that means with regards to the diagnosis so waiting to find out.

@dmorse interesting, but the assessors did come across as not very professional and didn't quite know what they were talking about. As in, anyone could have said those things.

We used the ADHD centre. They are in central London and can do either face to face or zoom. Both DDs have now transferred to shared care with our GP very smoothly once their medication was stable. Again, we made sure that the consultant was NHS registered and checked with the GP that they would be happy to do shared care in advance.

This was hugely biased and the person used different information with NHS and private companies to skew the results.

We used ADHD360 and are now on shared care, GP is happy with the treatment plan etc. They have been very good and worth it.

We were on a CAMHS waiting list for over 3 years and would rather go this route. Government deliberate underfunding of much needed services is disgusting.

ReCognition Health come recommended

Do you stay on the waitlist even if you've gotten a private diagnosis and are on shared care?

Yes, as long as you request it. Not all GPs are happy to do shared care at all and most won’t do it indefinitely, so at some point you will need to receive treatment through CAMHS and eventually adult services, if medication is required into adulthood.

Thank you. I'd rather have gone the CAMHS route but after 3 years I'd given up.

I hate going private and completely blame deliberate underfunding of this vital service.

Hi all

just wondering if anything has shifted in the months since this thread began? We are now in possession of a diagnosis from a private clinic that follows NICE guidelines and does work with a CAHMS as well but not in our area of residence. Am just wondering if GPs are starting to be more sympathetic to private diagnosis now that the wait lists for CAMHS are so crazy.

BibbleandSqwauk
Certainly where I am (Scotland) there is absolutely no sympathy from my GP for private diagnosis.
I've been told that if we get a private diagnosis then we will pay privately for any and all medication, as the GP won't do anything without a CAMHS diagnosis. Mind you she also claimed she couldn't refer to CAMHS which I know is nonsense. We've just been referred to CAMHS (by the school) who replied saying "don't call us, we'll call you". Local chat suggests their waiting list is 2 years or more.

Would love to hear more about this if you don't mind sharing? I have a teenager with ADHD and a five year old who I strongly suspect is the same. However, I'm starting to wonder if it could actually be autism in my youngest. What made you suspect it was ADHD and why was the diagnosis ASD instead? Grateful for any info.