Private ADHD and autism assessment in Inverness

Psychiatric ADHD and autism assessment for Inverness adults

Caledonian Psychiatry provides private adult ADHD and autism assessment across Inverness and the rest of the NHS Highland catchment. Dr David Crocker — a GMC-registered psychiatrist (MRCPsych) whose practice focuses on adult neurodevelopmental conditions — carries out every assessment personally, and the service is regulated throughout by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (reg. 03427).

Every appointment happens by secure video, a model that matters more here than almost anywhere else in Scotland: NHS Highland covers the largest and most sparsely populated health board area in the country. A patient logging in from Inverness and a patient logging in from three hours further west, or from one of the islands the board serves, have exactly the same experience — nobody drives, nobody times an appointment around a ferry or a flight. What doesn’t change is the substance of the assessment: the same clinician runs both sessions, the same NICE-aligned method is followed, and the same full written report follows. Video removes the distance, not the rigour — Dr Crocker’s Highland caseload already spans everywhere from the city itself to its most rural fringes.

The NHS picture in Inverness

NHS Highland is among the Scottish health boards with the longest adult neurodevelopmental waits. Scottish Parliament research from 2025 recorded waits exceeding seven years at the longest point on the NHS Highland pathway. The board covers a vast and predominantly rural geography, which compounds the challenge of recruiting and retaining specialist staff. Referral thresholds, service capacity, and waiting times can all vary within the board area, but the overall picture for adults seeking an ADHD assessment through NHS Highland has been one of exceptionally long delays.

That Highland picture sits within a wider national one: Scotland-wide, roughly 23,300 adults were waiting for an ADHD or autism assessment as of March 2025, with a median adult wait of around 76 weeks (Scottish Parliament, 2025). The NHS ADHD and autism waiting times across Scotland page sets out the board-by-board detail, and the Right to Choose page explains why that NHS England route has no Scottish equivalent.

Caledonian Psychiatry’s own waiting time is measured in weeks rather than years, and Dr Crocker accepts direct self-referral — there is no need to obtain a GP letter first.

What the assessment involves

Structurally, the process follows NICE guidance (NG87): two 60-minute appointments, both by video, with nothing shortened or combined because the patient happens to be calling in from the Highlands rather than the central belt. Within those two sessions, Dr Crocker builds a full developmental and clinical history, works through validated rating scales, and — where it is available — draws on collateral information from people who know the patient well. Everything gathered feeds into a full written report afterwards, setting out how the diagnosis was reached and what is recommended next. The ADHD assessment page breaks down what each of the two sessions covers, and our approach page explains the reasoning behind the method itself.

Autism assessment in Inverness

The same video-based service covers private adult autism assessment. It is common for someone who first gets in touch about ADHD to recognise autistic traits too once they start describing their experiences in detail — the two conditions overlap often enough that Dr Crocker assesses for both rather than expecting patients to guess which single label fits before booking. As with the ADHD assessment, it runs entirely over video, which for Highland patients means one less specialist journey to plan around.

Where it is not clear in advance which condition — or both — best explains things, a combined ADHD and autism assessment folds the two questions into a single pathway rather than requiring separate bookings. Full detail on the standalone route sits on the autism assessment page, and the private autism assessment in Scotland page covers the wider national picture.

What it costs

The ADHD assessment — the two 60-minute video appointments described above — is £800 in total, with no separate charge for travel because there is none. Prescription and follow-up pricing sits alongside this on the fee schedule page.

A standalone autism assessment is also £800, and combining both into one ADHD and autism assessment — three 60-minute sessions — costs £1,300. Given how much a single round trip to a specialist service can cost a Highland patient in time alone, folding both questions into one video-based process is often the more efficient route when there is genuine uncertainty about which one fits.

After a diagnosis — treatment and shared care

Medication is often part of the picture once an ADHD diagnosis is confirmed, though it is one option among several rather than an automatic next step. Whether an individual GP practice takes on shared care of that prescribing is a local decision — Scotland has no national policy requiring it either way — and in Dr Crocker’s experience, rural Highland practices are sometimes readier to have that conversation than busier urban ones. His reports are written for a GP audience, follow NICE and RCPsych standards throughout, and are built to give the practice everything it needs to decide. The shared care with your GP page walks through how that process typically runs.

If medication is started, doses are adjusted through structured follow-up and review appointments over the same secure video link — no repeat journeys down the A9 just to fine-tune a prescription. And because a Highland patient may rely on that diagnosis for NHS care years later, every assessment is conducted to the quality standards we set out publicly.

Seen across Inverness and the Highlands by secure video

There is no clinic address to give directions to — wherever you are calling in from, whether that is Inverness itself, Nairn, Dingwall, Aviemore, or somewhere considerably more remote, the appointment runs exactly the same way over secure video from home or wherever suits. Slots run through the working week and include early starts and Friday afternoons, so a Highland patient rarely has to build a whole day around either appointment. Book directly online, or send an enquiry below and expect to hear back within 48 hours.