JenRose Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Hi, how do we go about getting a CP or similar to carry out an assessment on our son, we dont seem to be getting anywhere with our local NHS and he is out of school at the moment. We live in the North West Uk Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zemanski Report post Posted February 6, 2006 The usual route is to go to the GP and ask for a referral to CAMHS - child and adolescent mental health services - specify an ASD specialist if it is for AS issues. schools and social services (I think) can refer too - the more the better. If your child isn't at school then contact your LEA to find out who would be responsible - the responsible officer if your child has a statement but otherwise I'm not sure, possibly an LEA medical officer. Zemanski Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jb1964 Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Sorry can't help - but I'm sure someone will post soon that can. Why is your son off school at the moment. If it's anxiety related can he not be referred that way? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Dont think i explained myself properly! Sorry, i meant a private assessment where we would pay for someone to assess M as this morning consultant has said "i dont think a dx is important,its just a label" well it is important to us and if M is going to get help for the rest of his life then we need it. Theres a very long waiting list to see the Paed who specialises in ASD so we thought about going private, has anyone done that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
on the edge Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Yes - We did that with our son. I live in essex and I just looked up the local private hospitals and found one with a paediatrics doctor who dealt with ASD. We went to the Nuffiled hospital (they have them all over the country) http://www.nuffieldhospitals.org.uk/ Hope this helps, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
michele Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Hello Jenrose Have you tried the national autistic society. They are genarally a good idea for that kind of information. But I can't understand why the CAMHS dont think the dx is important. I have a funny feeling it is the same CAMHS team that my son is seeing, I know how frustrating the whole process can be. What I found is that although you know the full picture you have to remember that they only see your son for a short period of time and therefore you have to remember to give as much info as you can about what is happening at home no matter how irrelevant it seems. Try to stay strong, thats easier said than done I know. I'm glad you've found this forum, its been a godsend to me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Thanks for that Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LizK Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Theres a very long waiting list to see the Paed who specialises in ASD so we thought about going private, has anyone done that? I think you need to speak to your GP to get a referral letter if you want to see a paediatrician or psychiatrist but you make the appointment yourself. Might be worth contacting the local private hospitals to get an ide aof price, availability etc Were you thinking about seeing the paediatricain who specialises in ASD or someone else? One word of warning be careful whom you see. Just because you are paying doesn't mean you necessarily get a better service or see someone with an interest in ASD. Locally very few paediatricians and child pyschs do private work, certainly the ones with ASD expertise don't and I most certainly wouldn't trust the opinions of the ones who do work at the Golden Nugget (Bupa ). You also need to think about how someone in the private sector would liase with other services if you did get a diagnosis. A work colleagues grandson was diagnosed with AS privately, the parents were given a very long report, paid the bill and were then sent on their way having to sort things out with Education and other services on their own. Other options would be to see a psychologist privately but don't know how you arrange that. There are Diagnostic ASD units at various places too, maybe they see private referrals? You should also be entitled to a second opinion on the NHS HTH Liz x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justamom Report post Posted February 6, 2006 Hi JenRose, Sorry I dont have much exp on getting a private dx but I must say that someone once told us that it was not important to get a dx it was just a label. But that label helped us so much. My husband used to see my son as a "naughty" boy but with the dx he could see that it was not his fault he behaved like me did and his actions were not done on purpose. good luck justamom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justamom Report post Posted February 6, 2006 sorry very tired tonight post should have read It was not his fault that HE behaved Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
on the edge Report post Posted February 6, 2006 I did have to get a referral to go privately - which was done by my health visitors report at my doctors request. This also prompted my NHS appointment with the paed (although in all the whole NHS assesment process took over 3 months!!). Seeing a private paed is not normally something you can claim on most health insurances (we had to pay for ours and we have top Bupa cover) and you will have to pay for all tests....they need specialist speech therapists reports and you can also do all the blood tests and hearing tests privately too. When we got our private report (possible autism!!) it did not help us really. the only thing we managed to set up ourselves was private speech therapy....other than that everything seems to be NHS led. Oh well...you know how it is ...you just gotta find out and the NHS is such a slow animal.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
