Private ADHD assessment and diagnosis for adults, teenagers and children living in Dunfermline and across Fife — led by GMC-registered consultant psychiatrists, delivered online or in person at our Edinburgh and Glasgow clinics, with no NHS waiting list.
A diagnostic assessment for ADHD asks a specific question: do this person's difficulties with attention, impulse control and self-regulation meet the criteria set out in DSM-5-TR and ICD-11, having been present since childhood and causing impairment in more than one setting? Answering that properly takes a consultant psychiatrist and a structured process, not a screening tool.
Dunfermline sits close enough to Edinburgh that in-person appointments are straightforward, though most of our Fife patients choose secure video instead. We follow NICE NG87 and SIGN 145 and use DIVA-5, ACE+ and the Conners scales. Your consultant psychiatrist writes the report themselves, in a form accepted by employers, colleges, universities and by Fife GPs considering shared care.
Fife is unusual in that there is no dedicated adult neurodevelopmental service to join. NHS Fife has confirmed there is no standalone service and no separate waiting list for adult ADHD and autism assessment. A GP can refer you, but that referral is considered case by case by the general Community Mental Health Team, and whatever wait follows is folded into overall CMHT and psychology activity rather than reported as an ADHD waiting time.
NHS Fife's own July 2025 statement on adult ADHD is revealing in what it emphasises. Much of it describes support available "with or without a formal diagnosis" — cognitive behavioural therapy, environmental modification, and the local neurodevelopmental hub — framed around first-line interventions recommended by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. That support has genuine value. But it is a different offer from a diagnostic assessment, and many Fife adults come away having been given coping strategies when what they sought was an answer.
NHS Fife has confirmed that a private assessment will be considered as part of a patient's overall care, and that reports meeting current clinical guidelines are accepted.
Being offered help "with or without a formal diagnosis" sounds generous, and for some people the practical strategies are genuinely enough. It is worth being clear, though, about what a formal diagnosis unlocks that generic support does not.
If coping strategies alone have not been enough, that is not a failure on your part. It may simply be that you needed the diagnosis first.
People coming to us from Dunfermline and across Fife often include:
A free conversation to work out whether a diagnostic assessment is what you actually need, followed by validated questionnaires to complete beforehand.
Your consultant psychiatrist conducts a structured diagnostic interview covering your history and current functioning, by video from your home in Dunfermline.
School reports, earlier medical records and an account from someone who knows you well all help confirm that difficulties are long-standing rather than recent.
You get the written diagnostic report and a session to discuss it — the outcome, whether medication fits, and what support is worth pursuing in Fife.
Once a diagnosis is confirmed, several routes open up that were not available before:
Not as a standalone service. NHS Fife has confirmed there is no dedicated adult ADHD and autism assessment service in Fife and no separate waiting list. GP referrals are reviewed individually by the general Community Mental Health Team, and any wait is absorbed into overall CMHT and psychology figures rather than published as an ADHD waiting time.
NHS Fife's July 2025 statement describes support available "with or without a formal diagnosis", built around first-line interventions such as environmental modification and cognitive behavioural therapy. Those interventions are evidence-based and help many people. They are not, however, a diagnostic assessment, and they cannot unlock medication, DSA, or formal workplace adjustments in the way a diagnosis can.
£900 in full, or from £225 a month on a payment plan, covering the entire diagnostic pathway and your written report. Adding an autism assessment brings the combined pathway to £1,950 in full or £487 monthly, cheaper than arranging each one separately.
NHS Fife has confirmed that a private assessment will be taken into account as part of a patient's overall care, and that reports meeting current clinical guidelines are accepted. Ours are produced by GMC-registered consultant psychiatrists working to DSM-5-TR and NICE NG87.
Rarely. Adult assessments run entirely by secure video. For children, the parent interview and feedback session are online; only direct observation of the child might require attending our Edinburgh clinic, which is a short journey across the Forth.
Initially we do, where medication is clinically appropriate. Longer term, some Fife GPs will take over prescribing under a shared care agreement, though this depends on the individual practice. If yours declines, we can continue prescribing and titrating privately.
Routinely. Many of our adult patients receive a first diagnosis in their twenties, thirties, forties or beyond. ADHD does not begin in adulthood, but it is often overlooked in childhood — particularly in girls, in academically capable children, and where hyperactivity presented as internal restlessness rather than obvious disruption.
Yes. The two frequently occur together, and we assess both in a single consultant-led pathway. In Fife this matters because there is no dedicated NHS route for adults who suspect both conditions at once.
If you have been offered coping strategies when what you needed was an answer, a formal diagnostic assessment is still available to you. Our consultant psychiatrists work online across Dunfermline and Fife, giving you a clear diagnosis, a written report, and a route to treatment where it's appropriate.
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