FAQs on ADHD and autism assessments in the Harrogate area

If you would like an NHS assessment and are not under the community mental health team (CMHT)– please contact the practice for a link to the Do It profiler which is an online tool that assesses how likely you may be to have ADHD or autism and arranges onward referral if you meet current NHS criteria
The possible outcomes of the Do it profiler are:

• Low or medium risk patients are not added to the waiting list.
  Information given as to how likely you may be to have ADHD and/or autism. 
  Advice and tips on managing your possible neurodivergence.
  You are not yet on a waiting list but your details will be kept on a register and in due course, you will be added to the waiting list for a formal diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/autism.
  You will be contacted when you are moved onto the waiting list, unfortunately the wait will be many years.

• High risk patients will be immediately added to the waiting list for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/autism. This will only happen if you meet very specific urgent criteria (you are currently waiting for hospital treatment such as chemotherapy or dialysis, and your consultant has said they don’t think you will be able to have this unless a diagnosis of ADHD or autism has been made and treatment given; a court have asked you to arrange assessment for ADHD or autism).

If you are currently under the community mental health team (CMHT), please contact your care coordinator who can arrange for you to be added to the waiting list for the Tuke centre if they feel it will help them treat your mental health condition. Your GP cannot do this for you if you are under the CMHT, because your CMHT doctor or nurse will need to explain to the Tuke centre why they need the assessment.

Yes, in October 2024 it was confirmed that these will now be funded for adults with ADHD symptoms

If choosing this route then you do not need to complete the Do it Profiler and no funding application (IFR) is required

Eastgate Medical Group cannot recommend any specific Right to Choose Providers – you need to research this yourself.

If you have an NHS funded assessment in a private clinic via right to choose, and this results in you being prescribed medication, Eastgate Medical Group is willing to share care with NHS funded providers once you have been stabilised on medication.

The first few months of medication must be prescribed by the ADHD clinic, and sometimes right to choose clinics will ask you to pay for this (it can be quite expensive- more than £100 a month)

If you require any monitoring or investigations whilst medication is being prescribed by an online ADHD clinic, such as an ECG, you will be asked to pay for these via a private clinic.  Eastgate Medical Group does not organise tests for online only clinics. By choosing an online only clinic you must understand and accept the risks of these charges being made.

Please note that right to choose assessments are not available via NHS funding for a second opinion.

If you wish to request a RTC referral, please complete all necessary paperwork from the clinic website. Then please contact us – we will check we agree with the referral, and submit it.

• An IFR is an ‘individual funding request’, this is an application for the commissioners (ICB) to pay for somebody to have an NHS assessment even if they do not meet the standard criteria, on the grounds that their case is different from everybody else in the same situation.
• The application process requires your GP (or another doctor) to make an application to the IFR panel at the ICB, explaining to them why your clinical case is exceptional and why they therefore believe you should be entitled to care which is not currently routinely available on the NHS.
• If you believe that there is something very unusual or exceptional about your case meaning that you are different from everybody else in your situation, please contact the surgery for a discussion with a GP about this.

We recognise that the service which is currently commissioned does not feel adequate to many patients, however this is completely outside of the control of Eastgate Medical Group who are not responsible for arranging hospital services. If you would like to provide feedback about what is or is not available, please contact the commissioners (ICB) via email: [email protected]

There are many private providers who offer to diagnose and treat ADHD and autism.

Many allow patients to self refer, but if you need a referral letter please let us know.

We would recommend that if going privately you see a consultant GMC registered psychiatrist via a clinic which is registered with the CQC.

If you have a private assessment, the private provider will start you on any treatment they advise. You will have to pay for private prescriptions initially, but when you are stable on your treatment, they may offer to ask your GP to start prescribing this for you under a ‘shared care agreement’.

Eastgate Medical Group does not share care with private providers.

However, if you would like to transfer your care to the NHS, we can arrange this by writing to the local NHS clinic (the Tuke centre) and asking them to take over your care.  If you accept this offer, the shared care with the Tuke centre starts immediately so we can start prescribing your medication immediately with no gap in treatment.

If you would like to remain under your private clinic and do not want to be transferred to the Tuke centre, you will need to pay for private prescriptions (these can be expensive, £100-£200 per month)

We can refer you to the Tuke centre for an NHS medication assessment/review.

Your GP cannot restart medication in the meantime, because a specialist needs to decide what is best for you now.

Please contact the practice to arrange a discussion with a GP. If you have a social worker, probation officer or support worker of any sort, please let us have their details.

NHS children’s autism assessments (referrals prior to 18^th birthday) are provided by Harrogate hospital via the Child Development Centre (run by HDFT).

You can self refer using this link: https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/services/childrens-services/specialist-childrens-services/autism-assessment/ which also contains some very useful resources to support you and your child whilst waiting for an assessment, and after a diagnosis is made

If you struggle to complete the online self referral, please phone the CDC via the number on their website and somebody will help you with this.

If you think your child may have autism but you have other concerns too such as: delays in growth or development (e.g. if your child did not walk by 18 months of age), regression (losing skills or abilities that your child used to have), unusual facial features, a family history of neurological conditions (e.g. neurofibromatosis), please contact the surgery to arrange an assessment by a GP prior to referral.

Please contact us with full details and we can arrange the referral.

NHS children’s ADHD assessments (referrals from 6^th birthday until 18^th birthday) are provided by CAMHS in Harrogate (run by TEWV NHS trust).

This is an open access service so anybody can refer – parents, schools, other doctors including GPs, or the young person themselves.

You can self refer by phoning 0300 013 4778 or emailing [email protected]

If you would prefer a GP referral (e.g. if you feel there is additional information the GP can add from your child’s medical record) please contact the surgery.

If you think your child may have ADHD but you have other concerns too such as delays in growth or development (e.g. if your child did not walk by 18 months of age), regression (losing skills or abilities that your child used to have), unusual facial features, a family history of neurological conditions (e.g. neurofibromatosis), please contact the surgery to arrange an assessment by a GP prior to referral.

CAMHS have advised that a report from the school about your child’s strengths and weaknesses in the classroom is extremely useful to them, so if you are requesting a GP referral or making a self-referral, please ensure you have this first.

ADHD assessments are not available prior to the age of 6 in our area, this is because the specialists who perform these assessments feel it is too difficult to tell what is ADHD and what is normal variation for very young children.

If you have significant concerns your GP can request a referral to the child development centre to see a paediatrician, they cannot diagnose or treat ADHD but they can consider other factors.

Yes, if you meet the referral criteria (i.e. a GP, teacher, or parent thinks the child might have ADHD and is requesting an assessment)

We cannot recommend any specific providers, you need to research this yourself including checking your child is eligible for NHS funded care (all clinics have different age cut offs)

Please be aware that most right to choose providers for children only provide the assessment and do not initiate medication.  GPs cannot initiate ADHD medication in children even if a diagnosis has been made. Therefore, if you have a right to choose ADHD assessment /diagnosis and would then like to consider medication, you will then have to join the NHS waiting list for CAMHS, who may then arrange to repeat the ADHD diagnostic assessment. 

It is important to understand that this process takes much longer than simply going via the NHS route in the first place, if you want access to medication.

Yes, if you want to, but there are some things to bear in mind.

Many private clinics allow patients to self refer, but if you need a referral letter, please let us know

We would recommend that if going privately you see a GMC registered CAMHS consultant psychiatrist via a clinic which is registered with the CQC.

If you have a private assessment, the private provider will start you on any treatment they advise, and when you are stable on your treatment, they may offer to ask your GP to start prescribing this for you under a ‘shared care agreement’.

You will have to pay for these private prescriptions initially, these can be very expensive (£100-£200 per month).

Eastgate Medical Group does not share care with private providers via shared care agreements.

However, if you would like to transfer your care to the NHS, we can arrange this by asking NHS CAMHS to take over your child’s care.

Please be aware there can be differences of opinion between NHS and private providers about diagnosis, and sometimes a full re-assessment is needed, meaning that the process takes much longer than simply going the NHS route in the first place.

Yes

Please speak to your child’s school or nursery. If they do not feel your child’s needs can be met within their SEN budget, they can apply for an EHCP (education, health and care plan) for additional funding to support your child.

Please note that no diagnosis is required to apply for an EHCP, it is based purely on a needs assessment.

Please speak to your child’s school, they can arrange whatever support or additional time in exams your child needs

Some parents choose to pay for private dyslexia assessments, we recommend you speak to your child’s school first for advice on this

GPs do not have any access to dyslexia assessments so unfortunately we cannot help with this

Speak to your child’s school, they can arrange additional support as needed including an EHCP (education, health and care plan) if needed.

Please also let the surgery know if you think your child has a learning disability, we cannot arrange testing for this but we would like to know so we can provide personalised care and adjustments for your child as needed, and check to see if any further medical assessments or investigations are needed.

Please contact the surgery to request reasonable adjustments.

If you know what would help you, then please let us know.

If you don’t know what would help, then please let us know what is difficult and we can agree a plan together.

Examples of reasonable adjustments that we can offer include:

• Waiting in the carpark or outside the door rather than in a noisy waiting room, and the doctor or nurse will call you when they are ready for you to come through

• Appointments at the beginning or end of the day when the waiting room will be quieter

• Longer appointments

• Appointments with your preferred clinician to enable continuity of care

• Telephone, video or face to face appointments, whichever is easier

• Communication via email or letter (for non urgent matters only) if this is more accessible for you than phone calls or text messages

• You can bring somebody with you to your appointments, we can video call them whilst you are here if they aren’t local, or you can arrange for us to speak to a friend or relative as well as or instead of you, with your consent

• You can send us information or a letter to look at before your appointment

• We can provide a written summary of your appointment and the plan that was agreed afterwards

It is our legal duty to provide whatever reasonable adjustments you need, and we will do our best to help you.