Private ADHD and autism assessment in St Andrews and Fife

Psychiatric ADHD and autism assessment for St Andrews and Fife adults

St Andrews is a small town built around one of the UK’s oldest and most demanding universities, and it is this combination — ancient streets, a large student population, and a research-intensive academic community — that shapes how ADHD and autism present locally. Dr David Crocker, a GMC-registered psychiatrist (MRCPsych), provides private adult ADHD and autism assessment to people living, studying or working across St Andrews and the rest of Fife. The practice is regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (reg. 03427). Undergraduates juggling independent study for the first time, postgraduate researchers under deadline pressure, and academic staff managing demanding roles all come to recognise ADHD or autistic traits at different points — the practice is set up for all of them, as well as for anyone in the wider Fife public for whom the question arises later in life.

Every appointment is held by secure video, which matters twice over in a place like St Andrews: it removes any journey from further round the East Neuk or across Fife, and it keeps the whole process away from a waiting room where you might run into a tutor, a colleague, or a neighbour. Whichever appointment you are booked in for, it runs to the same NICE-aligned standard, with the same care in the written report, as an in-person consultation would. Dr Crocker assesses adults from St Andrews itself and right across the area — Cupar, Anstruther, Leven and the rest of the East Neuk, as well as Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes further west.

The NHS picture in St Andrews and Fife

NHS Fife’s adult neurodevelopmental service is under the same strain as every other Scottish health board, and a first NHS assessment for ADHD or autism routinely takes years rather than months to reach. Being close to St Andrews and its university does not shorten that wait, and neither does the presence of larger specialist services across the Tay in Dundee — referral volumes have grown faster than any board’s capacity to see people. For students, staff and residents right across Fife, the realistic choice is often between that wait and a private assessment.

Scottish Parliament figures show that, as of March 2025, around 23,300 adults across Scotland were on a waiting list for ADHD or autism assessment, with a median adult wait of approximately 76 weeks. Our NHS ADHD and autism waiting times across Scotland page breaks that figure down further, and our Right to Choose in Scotland page explains why the route some patients use south of the border to jump NHS queues is not available here.

Caledonian Psychiatry, by contrast, can typically offer a first appointment within a few weeks of enquiry, and no GP referral is needed to get started.

What the assessment involves

Dr Crocker structures the assessment around NICE guideline NG87: two 60-minute video appointments in which he builds a detailed developmental and clinical picture, applies validated rating scales, and, wherever it can practically be arranged, draws on collateral information from someone who knows you well. That evidence base is what underpins the conclusions in the written report you receive afterwards, setting out his reasoning and his recommendations. The ADHD assessment page sets out exactly what each of the two sessions covers, and our approach to assessment walks through what to expect from first enquiry to final report.

Autism assessment in St Andrews and Fife

It is not unusual for someone who first gets in touch about ADHD to start recognising autistic traits too once they read further into the subject — the demands of university or a stretching job have a way of bringing both to the surface at the same time — and Dr Crocker is equally placed to assess either. Reaching that realisation partway through a degree, a research post, or a career built in Fife is a common route in. The autism pathway follows the same structure as the ADHD one: a detailed, NICE-aligned developmental history, validated assessment tools, and a written report of the same depth.

Where it genuinely is not clear which condition, or both, best fits your experience, a combined ADHD and autism assessment lets Dr Crocker weigh them together in one pathway rather than two separate ones. More detail sits on the autism assessment page and the private autism assessment in Scotland page.

What it costs

An ADHD assessment — two 60-minute video appointments — is priced at £800, the same figure that applies to a standalone autism assessment. Everything the fee covers, plus the separate cost of prescriptions and any later follow-up appointments, is itemised on the fees page.

For anyone weighing ADHD and autism together rather than one at a time, a combined assessment — three 60-minute sessions covering both — costs £1,300, and is often the more efficient route when both are genuinely in question.

After a diagnosis — treatment and shared care

A confirmed ADHD diagnosis makes medication one option among several worth considering. Whether a Fife GP practice then takes over prescribing from Dr Crocker is entirely their own decision — Scotland has no national shared-care framework requiring it, unlike arrangements that exist in parts of England. To make that decision straightforward, Dr Crocker writes every report to NICE and RCPsych standards with his reasoning set out clearly, so a practice weighing up shared care has what it needs without having to chase for more. The shared care with your GP page explains how that conversation typically unfolds.

Where medication is started, dose titration happens through brief video follow-up appointments that fit around a lecture timetable, a research schedule, or a Fife working week without much upheaval. Every assessment is carried out to the published quality standards for ADHD and autism assessment, so the resulting diagnosis holds up to scrutiny from both GPs and university wellbeing services.

Seen across St Andrews and Fife by secure video

Distance is the practical problem video consultation solves, whichever part of Fife you are calling from — there is no clinic to reach, no parking to find, and no gap to carve out of a shift pattern, a lecture timetable or childcare. Every appointment runs on a secure, NHS-grade encrypted platform, and you can join from wherever suits you best — a St Andrews flat, a study, a Fife office, or anywhere else quiet and private. Slots are available throughout the working week, including early mornings and Fridays, so term-time commitments and working days are both easy to fit around. To get started, use the details below; a member of the team will be back in touch within 48 hours.