Anyone used The Edinburgh practice? (Adhd/Asd assessments)

[Popitdontstopit]

The CAHMs waiting list is so long dc will have left school by the time we get an assessment. I've seen people on here mention ADHD direct in Glasgow, but I wondered had anyone used the private assessment place in Edinburgh? It is a lot more expensive than ADHD direct, but uses psychiatrists - I'm not sure how much this matters.

Private assessment is fine but do be aware that if you at a future point decide that the private prescriptions are to expensive, as they are, NHS Trusts will not simply start prescribing without their own assessment/diagnosis. If your on the CAMHS waiting list I’d advise that you stay on this.
Mental health nurses can not make a diagnosis alone and require a second clinician usually Speech & Language or psychology but they will complete all the information gathering and report writing for the diagnosis, semantics as to why they don’t diagnose.
ADHD clinics in the NHS area generally managed by nursing staff.
It is absolutely vital that you get a comprehensive diagnostic report from any private company as many fob you off with one that isn’t any good for handover to the NHS.
Waiting lists are horribly long and equally frustrating for CAMHS staff who usually get a battering from the press

Check that your council would accept a private diagnosis for education support etc. as I know mine doesn't. School won't put anything in place until we have a diagnosis for dd but ASD/Adhd assessments are taking at least 2 years here in North Lanarkshire.

Thank you all for your responses
He has been seen by Camhs but I've bears it will be over a year for the next step - he is entering exam years so I don't want to wait when for the price of a holiday we didn't take due to Covid, I could get him some help now. The place in Glasgow is sounding more appealing now with these good reports!
Ladylunchalot I think your experience is shocking. As I said we've only been seen once but the school has said they will treat him as if he has a diagnosis from this point. The person we saw at camhs was lovely, they clearly need more funding to see more young people.

ADHD direct do video appointments - I'm not convinced some of the traits I think are signs of this condition will come across as well if you can only see his face! Not the always-in-motion rest of him.

What prescriptions or help are available for autism anyway? I assumed with the current woeful state of CAMHS that you would get a diagnosis and that would be it / here’s some leaflets / if your child is really struggling at a mainstream school come back to discuss. Is anything else provided?

Oh, I don't know about help but medication-wise that's more for adhd - I'm hoping ds can try some meds to at least see if it would help. I can't get that without a diagnosis.

That sounds excellent, thank you. Think I will try to book an appointment tomorrow 🤞

Hello,
Following the conversations about ADHD Direct and The Edinburgh Clinic, has anyone been through the process with ADHD Direct for a diagnosis of Autism, or both Autism and ADHD? Would you recommend them? We are consindering them for our daughter, but not sure whether it would be better to go with a clinic that has a Psychiatrist on the consulting team. Any advice? I've heard quite a few people recommending ADHD Direct for ADHD? Anyone for autism assessment? Many thanks

We used the Edinburgh Clinic, not for ADHD, definitely because we were concerned the wait for CAMHS was doing harm.

The psychiatrist we dealt with was fantastic. The online assessment and appointments worked well and care was handed onto GP once symptoms were controlled on the medication we got private prescriptions for.

However, their admin is appalling. There was not a single appointment which ran smoothly, double bookings, right day but wrong time, mistakes with the billing and I'd honestly not recommend them because the people running the office appear to be unable to operate a calendar. It caused a lot of stress during an already stressful time.

It's a shame, the psychiatrist was brilliant and really got DC out of a hole. I believe she has since left The Edinburgh Practice.

@allvivariumvivariumsvivaria thanks for sharing your experience, this is useful information.

I do not recommend The Edinburgh Practice. I'm currently having a lengthy and really poor experience with them.
Unprofessional, uncoordinated and very defensive if they actually answer your emails at all and that will only be the admin team. The clinicians will not engage beyond the actual appointments - so don't bother to ask any questions - they'll not be answered.
The admin is terrible, takes a long long time and the report I eventually received was incomplete.
Save your money - look elsewhere

@Ladylunchalot

Check that your council would accept a private diagnosis for education support etc. as I know mine doesn't. School won't put anything in place until we have a diagnosis for dd but ASD/Adhd assessments are taking at least 2 years here in North Lanarkshire.

That's terrible. We do put strategies in place in our council, w/o formal diagnosis.

CAMHS Edinburgh ASD waiting lists now at 2.5 years!

I heard 3 years post triage from people recently, the assessment times are a disgrace whether they are 2 or 3 years. The trauma that accumulated from poorly supported kids, both to themselves and others in their school.

@StarryEyeSurprise it really is a joke. DD has struggled so much with her mental health and overdosed intentionally last month. At least camhs are now involved but even that won't speed up the assessment process.
Dd's school have been ok recently and allowed her to sit her nat 5 prelims a few days later but no other allowances.

[quote Ladylunchalot]@StarryEyeSurprise it really is a joke. DD has struggled so much with her mental health and overdosed intentionally last month. At least camhs are now involved but even that won't speed up the assessment process.
Dd's school have been ok recently and allowed her to sit her nat 5 prelims a few days later but no other allowances.[/quote]
I'm so sorry to hear that. There really does need to be so much more support for our young ones. Far too often, there's only help once an individual has reached crisis point. It's just not right.

And they may not have reached crisis point had they received timely care. Sigh!

Hi Vvivariumvivariumsvivaria - I wonder if you could let me know the name of the pyschiatrist that left the Edinburgh Practice. My daughter has OCD, panic attacks and is now self-harming and saw a pretty useless psychiatrist in London. She's in Edinburgh now so any recommendations? Thank you.

We weren’t sure whether to go down the route of an educational assessment or an ADHD one. We gave them background, that he struggles with focus and to take in verbal instructions.
Many appointments later and they concluded that he struggles with focus and to take in verbal instructions…

I used the Edinburgh practice for my sons ADHD diagnosis. We saw the psychiatrist who has now left. We didn’t have any problems with admin.
Once we’d worked out the dosage for drugs the GP took over prescribing.

Would you mind letting me know if you thought the Psychiatrist who just left is any good, and if so, could you possibly send me their name. Has anyone used Dr. Johnny Graham?

I've seen the place in Glasgow recommended a few times. I believe the chap who runs it previously worked for cahms Forth Valley.

Re the school support, support should be in place based on need and not diagnosis. My sons school have a support plan in place based on his needs and he's still waiting on cahms. There's a few reasons I've decided not to go private but question every day if that's the right decision or not. If I was to go private I would use the place in Glasgow.

He did indeed work in CAMHS😏