Private ADHD and autism assessment in Edinburgh

Psychiatric ADHD and autism assessment for Edinburgh adults

A lot of Edinburgh’s working population spends the day in back-to-back meetings, on client calls, or moving between offices in the New Town and the financial district — and plenty of that same population have quietly wondered for years whether ADHD or autism explains why an ordinary working afternoon takes so much more effort for them than it does for everyone else. Caledonian Psychiatry provides private adult ADHD and autism assessment across Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, led by Dr David Crocker, a GMC-registered psychiatrist (MRCPsych) whose caseload is built around working adults.

Every appointment runs over secure video, removing the need for a commute across the city or a half-day off work — join from a spare meeting room, a quiet corner at home, or a parked car between calls. That’s just as true for patients commuting in from Falkirk or the Scottish Borders: location has no bearing on how the assessment is delivered. Dr Crocker also sees patients from Leith, Morningside, Stockbridge, Portobello and the wider Lothian area, and the practice is registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as an independent medical agency (reg. 03427).

The NHS picture in Edinburgh

For most Edinburgh adults going through their GP, the honest starting point is a long wait rather than a quick answer. NHS Lothian’s own freedom-of-information response (June 2024) put the average adult ADHD assessment wait at roughly 23.5 months from referral to first appointment — the best part of two years before seeing a specialist. That figure is a single snapshot and varies across Lothian, but it reflects something real: years spent managing symptoms at a desk and at home while the referral sits in a queue.

Edinburgh’s picture sits inside a wider Scottish one that is no better. Scottish Parliament figures (2025) put the national total at around 23,300 adults waiting for an ADHD or autism assessment, with a median adult wait of approximately 76 weeks. Our page on NHS ADHD and autism waiting times across Scotland sets Lothian’s figures against other health boards, and our note on why Right to Choose doesn’t apply in Scotland explains why that route out of an NHS queue isn’t open here.

Going private changes that timeline considerably: most people who get in touch with Caledonian Psychiatry are seen within a few weeks, with no GP referral required.

What the assessment involves

The assessment is built around two 60-minute video appointments, run to NICE guideline NG87 rather than any abbreviated version of it. Dr Crocker builds a detailed picture of a patient’s developmental history and current difficulties, applies recognised diagnostic rating scales, and — where a partner, parent or old school report can help — draws on that collateral evidence too. Once both sessions are complete, the patient receives a full written report setting out how the diagnosis (or its absence) was reached, with recommendations tailored to their circumstances. The ADHD assessment page covers what each session involves; our approach sets out the philosophy behind it — unhurried appointments, evidence-led conclusions, and honest feedback either way.

Autism assessment in Edinburgh

It’s common for someone who first got in touch about ADHD to start wondering, partway through, whether autism is part of the picture too — the two overlap often enough that Dr Crocker assesses for both rather than asking a patient to guess in advance. An autism assessment follows the same rigour as the ADHD pathway: a structured, NICE-aligned process built on a detailed developmental history and validated tools, ending in the same standard of report.

Where the picture genuinely spans both, a combined ADHD and autism assessment covers everything in one pathway rather than two bookings. Full detail on the standalone route sits on the autism assessment page, and private autism assessment in Scotland covers the wider picture.

What it costs

A standalone ADHD assessment — the two sessions above — is priced at £800. Every other charge, from prescriptions through to follow-up reviews, is listed in full on the fee schedule.

For anyone weighing up ADHD against autism, a combined assessment covering three sessions costs £1,300, and a standalone autism assessment is priced the same as the ADHD pathway at £800. Given how often Edinburgh enquiries raise both conditions at once, the combined route is often the more efficient choice.

After a diagnosis — treatment and shared care

A confirmed ADHD diagnosis doesn’t automatically mean starting medication, but for many patients it’s one of the more effective options available. Where a prescription is agreed, dose titration is managed through short review appointments — video check-ins brief enough to fit a lunch break rather than another afternoon away from an Edinburgh desk.

What happens next varies by GP practice. Scotland has no national policy obliging an NHS GP to take over prescribing that began privately, unlike some parts of England, so it comes down to the individual practice’s own position. What Caledonian Psychiatry controls is the quality of the report handed over: written to NICE and RCPsych standards, with the reasoning set out plainly enough that a GP weighing up shared care has what they need to decide. More on how that works is on the shared care with your GP page.

Seen across Edinburgh by secure video

There’s no clinic address to find, no parking to hunt for, and no waiting room. Every appointment runs over an encrypted, NHS-grade video platform, so patients join from whatever space suits them — a spare room, a parked car, a booked meeting room at work. Slots run through the working week, including early mornings and Friday afternoons, timed to fit an Edinburgh working pattern. Getting started just means sending a message below; the team aims to reply within 48 hours.