Hi! I'm in the same boat at the moment. Public (NHS) and private are the two streams available.

For the NHS, you need a GP to refer you for an adult screening. It has to be a GP, and make sure they don't fob you off on the wrong service, I got sent down a few rabbit holes before getting referred to the ADHD screening service. Then, you have to wait. I've been told that my screening should take 5-6 months to get booked in, and that's where I'm stalled at the moment. At/after your screening they will decide whether or not to book you on for a full diagnostic. The wait list for these is ~3 years. Yeah, very oversubscribed, super cool.

Given that I am looking to go private, which means that I need to start identifying private providers and what their charges are for screening, diagnosis and ongoing treatment. I've heard that these cost around £1000 for the diagnosis and then around £100 per month for any medication, but I haven't added these up myself yet.

I've heard that there is a route where you can ask your GP to refer you to a private practitioner they have an agreement with, which basically means they will accept a private diagnosis so you can get your meds (if required) on the NHS, where mostly the NHS is unlikely to let you get a subscription for meds without an NHS diagnosis. I've personally ruled this out because my local NHS have been no fun and I don't want them to piss me about for another month.

If anyone else knows of any options then I'm all ears, because right now it's either "don't get diagnosed for four years" or ££££ every year.

If you're currently in no position to go private, then the first thing to do is get in contact with your GP. My local GP allowed me to fill in some details about my issue, and they'd contact me to dicuss it further.

I was asked to collect some questionnaires to determine the impact of any symptoms on my life. Now, at this stage, you should request to be referred via 'Right to Choose' along with a suitable private clinic, such as PsychiatryUK. I think I did this but was ignored and referred to my local NHS psychiatry unit with it's wonderful 4 year backlog (18 months on the list so far!)

I had to appeal to doctor's initial decision as there was a lack of evidence, so be prepared to provide school reports etc to defend your stance.

Get on the NHS/Right to Choose waitlists as soon as possible, and then you can pay for private if the funds come up first! Hope this helps!

https://psychiatry-uk.com/right-to-choose/