Where would one go for a private diagnosis?....Anyone done it?

[deeeja]

A friend of mine wants to get her dd assessed and diagnosed quickly. She is obviouslt having problems getting her assessed quickly by the nhs.
I wondered if anyone would know of anywhere private in London?
Has anyone heard of 'Autism Consultants' and Dr Helen Wesley? Would this then cause her problems with getting a statement for her dd?
TIA

Have not had a private diagnosis as in the end an NHS appointment came through without too much of a wait, or at least a wait we could live with.

However, I did look into how to go private. I spoken with our GP's surgery (it's quite large, has lots of doctors). They gave me the name of a private psychologist. She in turn then told me she worked closely with a paediatrician who would be able to give a private diagnosis if we wanted one. I would probably get a recommendation through the NHS because all the professionals involved know each other IFKWIM. Within each health authority, it's quite a small 'circle'.

we took dd private to have ot diagnose what was wrong. although this will never be accepted by nhs. best thing we did.

We went to Dr Daphne Keen, who is associated with St George's hosp Tooting, but also does private diagnoses. There was no messing - she saw DH and I with DS, for about an hour and a half, including some play with him. She gave us a diagnosis at the end (ASD) and it cost around £1000 which we were lucky that my DH's work BUPA covered, though it won't cover any further autism-related treatments. She could not have been nicer, and the fact of having a diagnosis meant we got through the statementing system a lot faster. They could not really argue with her credentials, as St George's is such a prestigious hospital. Call her there and ask for her private secretary (called, i think, Joy.) Good luck!

hi we went private with ds.
we got in touch with the NAS and they gave us details on a psych specialising in ASD.

his advice was really good and it was his report which helped us get ds into the independent school he is now in.

we are going private again with dd as there is a very long waiting list for the nhs round here.

we also managed to get the private psych,s dx of AS on our sons statement so LEAs do have to accept them but they dont like it.

I heard that private diagnosis wont be taken into account for some things and that only NHS diagnosis can gain access to support and taken into account for statementing. But that might not be the case everywhere.

There are centre where they do diagnosis but I believe they can be expensive. There are at least 2 that I have herd of I can look it up if you want?

OK just repeating what I had heard was not sure of correctness.

Its ok electra - I didnt take it that way

I used Dr Daphne Keene (went privately at her Wimpole Street place and not through St Georges). www.daphnekeen.co.uk/She diagnosed Autism and recommneded ABA. The LEA DID use the report and did do the Statement and fund for ABA based on her report as well as a private Ed Psych's report.

They may well try to wriggle out of it and not use the private reports but they cannot really justify it at tribunal.