Dr David Crocker

BSc (Hons), MBBS (Hons), DipExpMed, MRCPsych  |  GMC 7411382

Background and training

Although born in the United Kingdom, Dr Crocker spent a significant portion of his childhood in the United States before returning to the UK for his education. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of St Andrews in 2008, during which time a close friend experienced a serious mental health crisis. Seeing the difference that good psychiatric care made shaped his decision to pursue medicine and ultimately psychiatry.

Dr Crocker has always been passionate about sport, and worked in semi-professional sport during his training. This gave him a particular interest in the mental health of athletes and anyone involved in competitive sport at any level.

He studied medicine at King’s College London, graduating with honours (MBBS) in 2013. After completing foundation training in Cornwall, where a placement in liaison psychiatry confirmed his commitment to the field, he relocated to Edinburgh to commence core psychiatry training, achieving membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych) in 2022.

Dr Crocker has been working in adult psychiatry since 2018. He worked in the NHS as a Specialist Registrar in the urgent care and treatment team across NHS Fife and Lothian, and is an Approved Medical Practitioner in Scotland. In early 2023 he moved into private practice and has since transitioned from the NHS to working exclusively in the private sector, focusing on ADHD and autism spectrum disorder alongside general adult psychiatric conditions. He has since conducted thousands of assessments across neurodevelopmental and general psychiatric presentations.

Registration and clinical role

Dr Crocker is fully registered with the General Medical Council with a licence to practise (GMC 7411382) and holds membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). He works as an Associate Specialist Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Caledonian Psychiatry — a senior, experienced clinician who has built a practice dedicated entirely to direct patient care.

For transparency: Dr Crocker is not on the GMC Specialist Register and does not use the title “Consultant Psychiatrist”, which is reserved for doctors who have completed Higher Specialist Training and been awarded a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). His career has instead concentrated on hands-on clinical work — several thousand adult psychiatric assessments since 2018, with particular depth of experience in adult ADHD and autism. Patients receive thorough, evidence-based psychiatric care delivered personally by an experienced senior doctor.

In 2025, Dr Crocker set out to build his own practice from the ground up. Having seen some poor examples of mental health services in the private sector, he recognised the importance of regulatory oversight: Caledonian Psychiatry is Scotland’s first independent medical agency to be regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (registration number 03427), the national body responsible for the regulation of independent healthcare in Scotland.

Expedition and wilderness medicine

Dr Crocker holds a Diploma in Expedition Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, which he concluded in 2018. His training in wilderness and remote-environment medicine reflects a broader interest in clinical care under challenging conditions, and has cultivated an adaptable, resourceful and calm approach that he brings to every psychiatric consultation.

Clinical approach

As director and currently the sole clinician at Caledonian Psychiatry, Dr Crocker delivers all care personally. Patients start with him, and there is no delegation to other clinicians or trainees. This maintains continuity, consistency and a genuine therapeutic relationship with every patient.

He knows your history because he was there for all of it.

Dr Crocker prides himself on being an attentive listener who adopts a personalised, non-judgemental approach. Consultations are unhurried and structured, with careful attention to each individual’s history, experiences and goals. He aims to write his reports on the day of the concluding appointment, and while every letter is shared with the patient and, with consent, their GP and other professionals involved in their care, he is fundamentally writing to the patient. He will also act as a patient’s advocate, providing letters of support to other organisations and professionals where needed.

He believes that good psychiatric reports are, by their nature, human. Rather than relying on rigid templates or tick-boxes, an individualised report communicates how a person genuinely relates to their mental health, and is far more likely to earn the trust of both patient and GP.

The practice is founded on person-centred care, aligned with Scotland’s Health and Social Care Standards. Every patient is treated as an individual, with dignity, respect and transparency at the centre of every interaction.

Patient feedback

Patient feedback is collected using the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure, a validated 10‑item questionnaire widely used in UK primary and secondary care to assess patient‑centred consultation skills.

In his most recent audit, Dr Crocker’s overall mean CARE score was 4.97 out of 5.0 against a published normative median of 4.67, based on 71 valid patient responses and 706 scorable item ratings. Of those ratings, 96.6% were “Excellent” and the remaining 3.4% “Very Good”, with no “Good”, “Fair” or “Poor” ratings recorded. His scores exceeded the normative median across all ten CARE domains, placing these results in the highest band the CARE Measure’s national benchmark reports.

See the full audit and patient feedback →

Outside the clinic

Dr Crocker lives in Edinburgh with his labradoodle, Winston. When not working, he enjoys hiking, racquet sports, PC gaming, coding, photography and exploring the Scottish outdoors. He built this website himself, and took most of the photographs on it.