Private ADHD and autism assessment in the Scottish Borders

Psychiatric ADHD and autism assessment for the Scottish Borders

Caledonian Psychiatry provides private adult ADHD and autism assessment to people across the Scottish Borders — Galashiels, Hawick, Peebles, Kelso, Melrose, Jedburgh, Selkirk, Duns, Eyemouth and everywhere in between. Every assessment is carried out by Dr David Crocker, a GMC-registered psychiatrist (MRCPsych) with extensive experience in adult neurodevelopmental conditions, and the practice is regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (reg. 03427). Because the whole pathway runs by secure video, a patient on a hill farm in Teviotdale receives exactly the same standard of care as one living above a shop on Galashiels High Street.

The Borders has never had a city of its own, and that shapes how healthcare works here. NHS Borders is one of the smallest health boards in Scotland, and the most specialised services have never all been provided within the region — for many kinds of specialist care, Borderers have long been used to being sent up the road to Edinburgh. Adult ADHD and autism assessment is no exception: local provision is limited, and an in-person specialist appointment has usually meant a drive up the A7 or the A68, or the train from Tweedbank — and, because a full assessment involves more than one appointment, making that journey more than once.

Remote assessment removes the journey altogether. Patients attend from a kitchen table in Melrose, a home office in Peebles, or a quiet room on a Berwickshire farm — no trip to Edinburgh, no parking, no waiting room. The clinical standard does not depend on the room: the same doctor, the same NICE-aligned process, and the same detailed written report.

Small towns, and why discretion matters

There is a second, quieter reason remote care suits the Borders. In the mill towns and farming communities of the region — Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Duns — people know each other. Your car parked outside a clinic gets recognised; the person across the waiting room went to school with your sister. For something as personal as a psychiatric assessment, that visibility stops some people from seeking help at all. A video appointment from your own home is completely private: nobody sees you arrive, nobody sees you leave, and nothing about your day looks any different from the outside.

The NHS picture in the Borders

NHS adult ADHD and autism assessment for Borders residents comes under NHS Borders, and small boards face a structural squeeze with neurodevelopmental services: demand has risen sharply everywhere in Scotland, but a small board has fewer specialist clinicians to absorb it, and adult provision within the region has historically been limited. In practice there is no quick NHS route to an adult assessment for most people, and parts of the pathway have traditionally leaned on services based in Edinburgh.

For national context, as of March 2025 around 23,300 adults were waiting for an ADHD or autism assessment across Scotland, with a median adult wait of approximately 76 weeks and waits ranging from 24 to 146 weeks depending on the health board (Scottish Parliament, 2025). You can read more on our NHS ADHD and autism waiting times across Scotland page, and about why Right to Choose doesn’t apply in Scotland as it does in England.

A private assessment with Caledonian Psychiatry is typically available within a few weeks of enquiry, with no GP referral required — and, because it is delivered by video, no travelling at any stage.

What the assessment involves

The assessment follows NICE guidance (NG87) and comprises two 60-minute video appointments. Dr Crocker takes a comprehensive developmental and clinical history, uses validated diagnostic rating scales, and where possible gathers collateral information to build a thorough evidence base for his conclusions. A full written report follows, setting out the diagnostic reasoning and personalised recommendations. For the appointment-by-appointment detail, see our full ADHD assessment page.

If you want a feel for how Dr Crocker actually works before committing — the pace of the conversation, how the questions are asked, and what happens if the honest answer turns out not to be ADHD — our approach sets it out plainly. It is worth five minutes’ reading, particularly if the idea of a psychiatric assessment from your own front room in Kelso or Selkirk still feels unfamiliar.

Appointments are available during the working week, including early mornings and Fridays. If you commute to Edinburgh on the Borders Railway from Tweedbank, Galashiels or Stow — or drive up from Peebles — an assessment no longer has to mean a half-day of leave in the city: it can be fitted around the working week from home instead.

Autism assessment in the Borders

Caledonian Psychiatry also offers private adult autism assessment across the Borders. Plenty of adults in the region have spent decades putting their differences down to personality, upbringing or small-town life — not least because a formal assessment was never practically within reach. ADHD and autism frequently co-occur, and Dr Crocker assesses both, so there is no need to decide in advance which one best fits your experiences. Autism assessment follows a structured, NICE-aligned process built around a detailed developmental history and validated tools, leading to the same thorough written report.

If you are unsure whether ADHD, autism, or both best explain your experiences, a combined ADHD and autism assessment considers both in a single pathway. You can read more on our autism assessment and private autism assessment in Scotland pages.

What it costs

An ADHD assessment (two sessions of 60 minutes each) costs £800. A standalone autism assessment is also £800, and a combined ADHD and autism assessment is £1,300 (three sessions of 60 minutes). Every charge — prescriptions, letters, follow-up appointments — is published on our fee schedule, so someone weighing this up in Hawick or Eyemouth can see the whole financial picture before ever getting in touch, with nothing added for distance.

It is also worth counting what a video assessment does not cost from the Borders: no train fares to Edinburgh, no fuel up the A68 or the A7, no city parking, and no day of annual leave built around a single hour with a doctor — savings that multiply when an assessment takes two or three appointments.

After a diagnosis — treatment, titration and shared care

Where ADHD is confirmed, medication is one important treatment option. Dose-finding (titration) is handled through 30-minute video follow-up and review appointments, which matters more in the Borders than most places: a titration plan that demanded four or five in-person visits to an Edinburgh clinic would undo much of the point of a remote assessment. Follow-ups happen from home, on the same secure platform, wherever in the region you are.

In Scotland, whether an NHS GP takes over prescribing from a private psychiatrist is a matter for the individual GP and their practice — there is no national shared-care policy that compels GPs to participate. Whether your surgery is in Galashiels, Peebles, Duns or a village in Berwickshire, the conversation goes better when the paperwork is right: our shared care with your GP page explains how the handover works and what your practice will want to see. Dr Crocker’s reports are written with exactly that GP reader in mind.

Report quality is also what determines whether a private diagnosis is respected later — by your GP, by NHS Borders services, or by an employer or university. Every assessment is documented to the standards set out on our quality standards for ADHD and autism assessment page, so a diagnosis made by video in a Borders farmhouse carries the same weight as one made in any city consulting room.

Close to England, cared for in Scotland

The eastern Borders sit right against England — for people in Eyemouth, Coldstream or much of Berwickshire, the nearest sizeable town is Berwick-upon-Tweed, across the border. That makes England-based online ADHD clinics look conveniently close. The catch is the system boundary rather than the geographical one: Scotland’s NHS works differently (there is no Right to Choose here, and shared care is a local GP decision), and your GP practice works within the Scottish system. Caledonian Psychiatry is a Scottish practice regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (reg. 03427) — not England’s CQC — so your assessment, report and any ongoing prescribing stay inside the system your Borders GP actually operates in.

Seen across the Borders by secure video

From Galashiels, Melrose and Tweedbank down the Tweed to Kelso and Coldstream, from Peebles and Innerleithen to Selkirk, Hawick and Jedburgh, and out to Duns, Lauder and Eyemouth on the Berwickshire coast, patients attend their appointments via a secure NHS-grade encrypted video platform from wherever they feel most at ease. No drive up the A7 or A68, no train into Waverley, and no clinic waiting room in a town where everyone knows your face. Booking is straightforward: get in touch below, and a member of the team will respond within 48 hours.