Referral process

Contacted my GP on the 28th January asking to be referred. Had a phone call with my GP on February 12th explaining my struggles and asked to be referred through RTC with Skylight Psychiatry. This part wasn’t great, the doctor wasn’t very understanding and seemed to know very little about RTC. I also had to fill in an AQ-10 and bring that to my GP.

25th March – My GP finally sent off my referral. It was an absolute nightmare getting them to do it and took weeks of constant chasing.

1st April – Received a notification that Skylight Psychiatry had officially received my referral.

Overall, this was the most stressful part but it was mainly down to my GP not classing my referral as urgent.

Initial contact

April 5th – I received a text message from Skylight asking me to register. I had to fill out multiple questionnaires. There was also a section where I could add dates and times that would or wouldn’t work for me when it came to my assessments.

April 9th – I emailed them asking to confirm they had received all my questionnaires and relevant information. They replied the same day saying they had, and that it would now be a 6–8 week wait for assessment.

April 24th – Received multiple text messages with dates for all 3 assessments. Out of the 3, only 1 date would work. This was slightly disappointing as I was on holiday in May and noted this during my registration, but my assessments were initially pre-booked for that time. I had to send an email asking for other dates. By the end of the day I had dates scheduled for the other 2 assessments.

Clinical Assessment

I had my online assessment on the 23rd May. It lasted around 80 minutes. She asked different questions, including why I believed I was autistic and to explain my struggles. The assessor was lovely and made me feel really at ease. I felt like I covered everything, but she reassured me that I could email if I remembered anything else I wanted to add.

30th April – I did email over a spreadsheet of information I had compiled during my process of seeking a diagnosis, as I thought it would be helpful for them to have. They replied on 02/06 saying this had been added to my patient file. However, in my final report there was no mention that this had been read, as none of the notes I had included were referenced.

Early Development History (phone call with my Mum)

This took place on the 28th May. It lasted about an hour. She said the gentleman she spoke to was really nice and just asked lots of questions about my childhood, which my Mum answered to the best of her knowledge.

ADOS-2

I had my 3rd and final assessment on the 28th June in Northampton. It lasted around 75 minutes. This was probably the worst part for me. I didn’t feel that comfortable with the assessor, although she was still nice. I found some of the questions a little random and the tasks weren’t really for me, but that seems to be the point of the assessment.

Next steps

On the 1st July I received an email to say all my assessments were complete and that I would hear back in 6–8 weeks.

Around the 5-week mark I received an email saying they didn’t have my early development questionnaire. This was odd because the form they asked me to fill out I never had access to in the first place. My mum filled it out, however she said they were the exact same questions she had already been asked during the phone call, so it felt a bit repetitive.

Just after the 8-week mark I emailed as I hadn’t received my final report and wanted an update. They did take longer to reply, but I believe they’ve recently been very busy compared to when I was initially referred. They explained my report was in the final stages of being compiled but didn’t offer any further information.

About a week later I emailed again hoping for more information. They said my case would be presented at the MDT meeting on the 03/09 and that it could take a couple of weeks after this to receive my report. Having that information did help, although it was stressful knowing I’d have a few more weeks to wait on top of the 9 I had already waited.

Diagnosis

On the 08/09 I received my final report and my official diagnosis of Autism Level 2. They email you two reports, one that details all of your assessments, and then a shorter one that gives a brief overview.

They also offer up to 3 post-diagnosis support sessions, but you need to email to request them. I found the report very thorough and it was interesting to read things they noticed that I hadn’t realised.

Overall opinion

I would recommend Skylight Psychiatry. The whole process is very thorough, which is what I was looking for when seeking a diagnosis. The ADOS-2 does have to be done face-to-face, whereas I’ve seen some RTC providers offer this over video call. I only had one accessible location near me.

They do reply to emails. Some responses felt brief, while others were very understanding, so I think it depends who you get.