r/Glasgow Tools

OK, let me take this apart piece by piece...


>Don't pay for an ADHD diagnosis, we've all seen the panorma (?) thing, its completely true, its a money making scam tbh.

This is misleading; there is no evidence that private clinics are money making scams. In any case, the Panorama documentary you're referring to has been heavily criticised by various experts and ADHD charities who are concerned that the show will add to the stigma and discrimination those with ADHD already face, not improve it or otherwise help those affected.

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>You'll buy a diagnosis, rather than having a full MH assessment as to whether you have ADHD or not or another psych diagnosis, in which you would exclude yourself from the actual treatment you need if thats not the case.

Not necessarily true. It's common knowledge that some NHS clinicians also work for private clinics, so it could be argued that the assessment you get privately could be fundamentally the same as one carried out by the NHS.

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>Yes, you can get the meds, but the changes in treatment mean your traditonals like uppers etc are also being phased out for non-stimulants, so even if you are prescribed meds, if you dont have ADHD, they will do nothing.

Have you got a source for this? Why would the medical community choose to phase out a group of drugs that could be argued to have the greatest efficacy of any drug in psychiatric medicine? Also, as a medical professional you should know that referring to stimulant medication as "uppers" is misleading at best and potentially damaging at worst.

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>Go to your GP, wait on the list and then get proper help. At the end of the day its your health so best its done right.

I think the charity ADHD UK summed this one up better than I ever could in their response to the Panorama ADHD documentary:


>**NHS resourcing failures means for many private assessments are the only option.**
>
>Below are some of the countless cases we know of:
>
>\- A woman in South Wales was told by her GP that there was no local ADHD Assessment service. We helped her challenge it by requesting an Individual Funding Request, resulting in her GP saying “We do have an ADHD Assessment service, but it is so overwhelmed that we tell people that we don’t”.
>
>\- A woman in North Wales told she had a 7 year wait for an Assessment. She took the best job she could hold onto and saved for 11 months to afford a private Assessment to get the help and support she needed.
>
>\- A mother and son in England who both identified they likely had ADHD. They were told of a 3 year wait. The family could not wait as the son’s mental health was deteriorating and developing the first signs of suicidal tendencies. They could afford one private diagnosis so put the son forward for that. The mother remains on the waiting list and is seriously struggling.
>
>\- In Leicester a student identified he likely had ADHD. The waitlist for assessment was three years. He was finally diagnosed 4 weeks before his final exams. He has now been told he has a further 2-3 years to wait for medication. His entire University experience, his grade, and his life trajectory have all been altered by the NHS wait list and its failure to fulfil the NICE guidelines in a timely manner.
>
>\- In Coventry, the trust has set up “screening” between the referral (usually a school) of children and a formal Assessment. In the most recent figures that we have, screening was removing 92% of all girls. 152 were referred. 140 were removed from having an Assessment. We find it impossible to believe that those school referrals are 92% wrong. The lack of perceived importance of an ADHD assessment is depriving children of being able to understand themselves and get help.
>
>\- In York rather than expand their ADHD service to meet the needs of their population, they are formally restricting ADHD assessments to those who have become suicidal, are a threat to others, need a life-saving operation for which an Assessment is needed, or under the threat of family court action9. Our view is that it is an outrage that access to healthcare is filtered to only after you are suicidal and not before, after family court is involved not before, after damage is done not before.
>
>\- In Scotland they haven’t adopted the NICE guidelines, and withdrawn their own guidelines for being out of date, which means that there is no patient right to an ADHD Assessment and we are informed of areas with no adult ADHD services at all.
>
>There is no question in our mind that lives are being ruined and lives are being lost to suicide as a result of these failures. Calls to the charity from grieving parents further reinforce this view for us.
>
>The failure of the NHS to provide a timely ADHD Assessment service means that many are turning to private assessment services. They shouldn’t need to do so, but they’ve been failed.
>
>We have a significant concern that your programme will tarnish all private diagnoses and in doing so not only misrepresent the truth – as we believe the vast majority of diagnoses both private and NHS to be accurate – but also cause harm.
>
>\- Resulting in schools and companies rejecting a private diagnosis meaning individuals are not able to access the help they need.
>
>\- Resulting in increased stigma. Accusations that individuals who have ADHD are lying and have a fake private diagnosis.
>
>\- Resulting in individuals thinking they have no option but to wait for the NHS – often years - and suffer sometimes irreparable harm to themselves and their life while they do so.