Private ADHD and autism assessment in Perth

Psychiatric ADHD and autism assessment for Perth and Perthshire

Adults across Perth, Perthshire and Kinross-shire can access a full private ADHD and autism assessment without leaving home, delivered entirely by secure video by Dr David Crocker (MRCPsych), a GMC-registered psychiatrist with a long-standing focus on adult neurodevelopmental conditions. Caledonian Psychiatry holds Healthcare Improvement Scotland registration (reg. 03427) as an independent medical agency, and because every appointment runs over encrypted video, someone assessed from a farmhouse near Pitlochry receives care built to exactly the same standard as someone assessed from a flat in the centre of Perth.

That matters more here than in most parts of Scotland. Perth & Kinross is often described as the gateway to the Highlands, and outside the city itself most of the county’s population lives spread across small towns and villages — Scone, Crieff, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie, Kinross, Pitlochry and further still into Highland Perthshire. Psychiatric assessment services have always been based in the cities, so an in-person appointment has typically meant a long round trip to Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow — and, since a full ADHD or autism assessment runs across more than one appointment, repeating that journey. For a good many people, the combination of travel time, lost working hours and the expense of getting there has been reason enough to keep putting an assessment off.

Remote assessment removes that barrier completely. There is no journey, no parking, no waiting room and no need to build a whole day around a single appointment. Patients attend from their own kitchen table, a home office, or any other quiet, private space — whether that is a flat in Perth city centre, a farmhouse in Strathearn, or a cottage outside Blairgowrie. Nothing about the clinical rigour is scaled down for a screen: the same psychiatrist, the same NICE-aligned assessment process and the same detailed written report apply whether the appointment is booked from a city street or a single-track road in Highland Perthshire.

The NHS picture in Perth & Kinross

People living in Perth & Kinross fall under NHS Tayside for adult ADHD and autism assessment, a board that — like every board in Scotland — faces sustained demand and correspondingly long waits. Referral-to-assessment timescales for most adults stretch out over years rather than weeks or months, and there is no fast NHS track available on request. Rural geography compounds the problem: an eventual NHS appointment usually still means a trip to wherever in Tayside the clinic is being run that day, on top of however long the wait has already been.

To put that in context: Scotland-wide figures from March 2025 show roughly 23,300 adults on ADHD or autism assessment waiting lists, with adults facing a median wait of about 76 weeks (Scottish Parliament, 2025). Our page comparing NHS ADHD and autism waiting times across Scotland sets out how different health boards stack up against each other, and why Right to Choose — the route open to patients in England — isn’t available to NHS Tayside patients either.

A private assessment with Caledonian Psychiatry sidesteps all of that: no GP referral is required, appointments are typically arranged within a few weeks of first getting in touch, and because the whole process runs over video, there is no travelling involved at any stage — whether the alternative would otherwise have meant a trip to Dundee or further afield.

What the assessment involves

Assessment here follows NICE guideline NG87 and runs across two 60-minute video appointments rather than a single session. Across those two appointments, Dr Crocker builds a detailed developmental and clinical picture, works through validated diagnostic rating scales, and — wherever it is practical to arrange — draws on collateral information from people who know the patient well, so his conclusions rest on more than a single conversation. Once the assessment is complete, a full written report follows, setting out the reasoning behind the diagnosis and the recommendations that flow from it. Scheduling is kept deliberately flexible for a largely rural catchment area: early morning and Friday slots sit alongside standard weekday times, which helps when farm work, shift patterns or a long commute from Highland Perthshire make a mid-week daytime appointment awkward. The full ADHD assessment page covers what each appointment involves in more depth, and our approach walks through the whole journey from first enquiry to the finished report.

Autism assessment in Perth and Kinross

Private adult autism assessment is also available for people throughout Perth & Kinross. It is common among adults in more rural parts of the county to have spent years explaining away their differences as personality quirks or simply “how I’ve always been”, partly because a formal assessment was never a realistic option nearby. Because ADHD and autism overlap so often, Dr Crocker assesses for both, so patients do not need to work out in advance which one — if either — actually fits. The autism pathway mirrors the ADHD one in rigour: a structured, NICE-aligned assessment built on a full developmental history and recognised diagnostic tools, concluding in the same standard of detailed written report.

Where it is not obvious whether ADHD, autism, or some mixture of both better explains someone’s experience, a combined ADHD and autism assessment looks at both conditions together in one pathway rather than requiring two separate bookings. Further detail is available on the dedicated autism assessment page and on private autism assessment in Scotland.

What it costs

Fees stay the same regardless of where in Perth & Kinross a patient is based: £800 for an ADHD assessment across two 60-minute appointments, the same £800 for a standalone autism assessment, and £1,300 for a combined ADHD and autism assessment spread over three 60-minute sessions. Prescription charges, follow-up costs and everything else are listed in full on the fee schedule page.

One thing this figure does not include, for anyone travelling in from outside Perth itself, is the cost of getting there — because there is not one. No fuel or train fare to a city clinic, no parking charge, and no half-day or full day of leave lost to travel, which adds up quickly once an assessment spans two or three separate appointments rather than one. That holds true whether the appointment is booked from the city centre or the most remote glen in the county.

Ongoing care follows the same remote model: follow-up and medication-review appointments (£130 for 30 minutes) also happen over video, so adjusting a dose further down the line does not mean another trip along the A9 or the A85. Because a diagnosis is only as useful as the process behind it, the benchmarks every Caledonian Psychiatry assessment is measured against are published openly on the quality standards page.

After a diagnosis — treatment and shared care

A confirmed ADHD diagnosis often opens up medication as a treatment option, though it is never the only one available. Taking over prescribing from a private psychiatrist is entirely a decision for the individual GP practice in Scotland — there is no national shared-care framework obliging a GP to agree, unlike arrangements that exist in parts of England. What Dr Crocker can control is the quality of the case put to that GP: his reports follow NICE and RCPsych standards, set out the clinical reasoning in full, and are written specifically with a GP reader in mind, so a practice anywhere in Perth & Kinross has everything needed to reach a decision without further back-and-forth. The mechanics of this are explained on the shared care with your GP page.

Seen across Perth & Kinross by secure video

Whether based in Perth, Scone and Bridge of Earn, further out in Crieff, Auchterarder, Kinross and Blairgowrie, or well into Highland Perthshire around Dunkeld, Aberfeldy and Pitlochry, every patient connects through the same secure, NHS-grade encrypted video platform from wherever suits them best. That means no drive down the A9 or the M90, no clinic waiting room, and no reason to clear an entire day for a single hour with a doctor — appointment times run through the working week, including early starts and Fridays, to fit around rural working patterns. Enquiries go through the form below, or you can book online directly; either way, the team replies within 48 hours. For the wider picture of how the whole pathway fits together, see the guide to private ADHD assessment in Scotland.