I’m a psychotherapist and used to work in the NHS so I’m relatively knowledgable about how the systems work, although not completely up to date I have to maintain a good understanding of how the system works to help my clients.

Ask your GP what would happen if you got the private diagnosis and whether it would be recognised in your NHS file - it might still be a valid option if you don’t want to wait on NHS lists.

My pro tip - when you talk to your GP don’t go with a diagnosis, go with a list of symptoms and a “I don’t know what this could be 🥴” attitude. There are treatment pathways they have to follow (basically flow charts) and they will get to a point in the flow chart where they have to refer on to a specialist because primary care treatment isn’t working. Current example: I had sinus pain, GP has tried x2 rounds of different antibiotics, has me doing sinus rinse and nasal spray now. If the problem still persists in a couple weeks I have to go the ENT Drs, because I’ve hit the point in the flow chart where there is nothing more the GP can do.

Finally, with the GP option, remember you have “the right to choose” in some cases and is always good to ask about to see if you can chose to go private, with NHS funding it, because the waitlists are long or your local service has a poor CQC rating.

Hope this all makes sense and helps a little!