Getting a diagnoses in Cheshire England

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I strongly suspect that I have aspergers or some other autistic spectrum disorder and am looking to get a diagnoses. However I am having a significant amount of trouble with this.

When I initially told my GP about this she referred me to a special unit in the Ellesmere port hospital, but when they recently contacted me they said they only dealt with people who have a general (not specific) learning disorder and I don't fall into that category. They also said to their knowledge there is no one dealing with aspergers in Cheshire on the NHS. I can't afford a private diagnoses but I know if I do get one I will be able to receive a lot more help from the government in finding a suitable job and more help from the open university with my studies.

Is there anyone here from Cheshire who has managed to get a diagnoses from the NHS? or anyone in another part of the country who has had a similar problem and managed to get around it? any and all help would be very much appreciated.

Julie Park (PA to Professor T. Brugha)
PA
Brandon Mental Health Unit
Leicester General Hospital
Gwendolen Road
Leicester
Leicestershire
LE5 4PW
United Kingdom
Telephone number:0116 258 4899

Caters for from age 18 to 50, male or female and is referral NHS only and referral letter from your GP

Diagnostic Service Description
Assessment procedure: pre-assessment screening with written consent and completed by patients parents.If screen positive then a half day assessment at which parent and patient are interviewed.
Caters for Aspergers syndrome, high functioning autism.

oli234,
the local borough should be able to fund assessment for any sort of specialist outside borough if there are none in area who can deal with the problems have got,but first,contact the national autistic society and ask for a list of all the nearest specialists-because there may be someone near that they know of [NHS as well].
if there are none,ask doctor if they can sort out an outside borough referal-because of there being no specialists locally.
regular MH pyschs through the NHS should all be able to diagnose the ASDs but they're not that good for DD or LD,and can easily misdiagnose or not even diagnose at all in those with less obvious/non stereotypical cases or in those who have multiple conditions.


also,contact the national autistic society at anglo house in Northenden-it's one of their day centres and also NAS HQ for the north west-prospects have got an office there-it's the NAS own employment service for 'both diagnosed and those who are seeking diagnosis', in north west-- http://www.autism.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopo ... 479&a=6560

hi there-- cheshire, cornwall, cumbria- its all reptty slow. first of all- go to the national autistic society site- they have a link there to a list of the people in your area and nearby, or if you call they will post/email it to you- allt he people in your area. they are ace, anyway.

as far as i am aware, if your pct dont have the facilities for treatment- they have to get another one to offer it, in a surrounding pct or county. this is anyway something your GP should sort out- its really not good enough to leave it to you.

HOWEVER- sit back and expect to wait AGES- a year or so. there is a high level of fannying about (the correct, technical term) in mental health services (under which autism is treated)- and since autism is less easy to 'treat' and diagnose, its much worse- ie- fewer services.
i went to my dr in april- i still dont have a date yet; ace.
you may well need to be be 'assessed' prior to testing- which is fair enough, since the testing is quite lengthy- ie expensive; so you might not get a test straight away, but have to see someone. the waiting lists are lengthy.

it took over 3 months for the prick i saw to send a letter of referral along to the next mornon- who was three miles away. she then took about 6 weeks to offer me an appointment, then took about 8 weeks to write back to the first penis to say he should refer me on for assment. i know impatience is a facet of a/s, but really, these people are slower than continentakl drift- what the f**k are they up to?? growing trees for the paper? re-inventing the printing press?? staggeringly useless- USE THE PHONE. fuckwits.

anyway, this seems to be pretty usual. and now i will have a wait of about 8 months until that apointment. you can see why i'd be annoyed. as indeed i am.

in the interim, i have found that reading the posts here has made me far more knowedgable than either my gp, or the two highly paid, underperforming 'experts' i have seen so far. at least you can come here and tentativly ask questions about things you think MIGHT be related to a/s and HOPE noone thinks you're too weird- only to have a million replies from people saying- 'oh, of course, we all do that' and you can then feel normal!

mood today= annoyed. but enjoying swearing.
welcome anyway, you are not alone.

Thanks for all the advice, I spoke to someone from the autistic society and they gave me the name and address of a guy in Shropshire who does NHS referrals. I went to the doctor today and he said he'd be happy today to write me a refferal so it looks like I'm finally making some progress.

There is, like some of you warned, a pretty lengthy waiting list but at least something is now happening.

Anyway just wanted to say thanks for all the advice it was really helpful.

I live in Cheshire and it wasn't too long between talking to the doctor and getting a diagnosis. About three months, if I remember correctly. There's an Aspergers clinic in Liverpool, but they referred me to the one in Sheffield. The exam was only about an hour. There are very few resources in my town for autistic people, though.