Brand new autism and ADHD clinic offers speedy private assessments to avoid NHS queues for Milton Keynes children and young adults

Jane Lambert runs the private Makewell clinic at Bradwell Common and set up the new facility to offer “accessible and affordable options” to gain a faster assessment and support.

Families in MK are often forced to wait for months or even years for an official diagnosis. Sadly, this includes youngsters need help with mental health problems.

During this time the children sometimes cannot access the SEN support or specialist help that they need, says Jane.

"We know that getting onto a waiting list for an ADHD or ASD assessment is difficult. Even when successful, the lists can be anything up to three years,” she said.

"Patients are also assessed locally by different teams for either ADHD or ASD, when we know that they often co-exist. Our mission is to build ground-breaking mental health services to support those who need it now.

"If someone or their child is suffering with a potential mental health diagnosis, we don’t want them to can’t for two or three years to be seen and offered the help they need.”

Jane has three adopted children, including a daughter with ADHD.

“Having lived myself with the frustration of access to mental health services for my adopted children, I decided we really needed more support locally,” she said.

The diagnosis provided at Makewell is valid for EHCP (Education, Health and Social Care) and SEN plans.

“Currently our assessment service is for five to 25-year-olds, however we also offer ongoing management and medication reviews for people of all ages who already have a diagnosis,” said Jane.

“We have highly experienced specialists, includinf Mental Health Nurses, Advanced Clinical Practitioner and Nurse Prescriber, Clinical Psychologists, Forensic Clinical Psychologist and a Consultant Psychiatrist who is also a Functional Medicine Practitioner.”

Recently MK’s independent Healthwatch published a report following research with PACA MK, a forum to give parents a voice.

The report investigated the experiences of families using CAMHS and mental health support for children with autism and special educational needs.

It quotes parents and carers saying CAMHS waiting lists are too long and children are often refused because they are not serious enough.

They claim professionals “don’t seem to accept” that a child with autism can still have mental health needs and therefore requires support just like any other child.

One parent states: “The ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition) community is huge in MK and there is nowhere to go to help our children. No-one is listening, no-one is prepared to make the changes our children need, and our children are suffering.”

Jane said Makewell aims to be the “light at the end of your tunnel” for such families.

She said: There are options for treatment, as well as possible medication...Our specialist will be able to undertake a comprehensive assessment, offer advice and full functional medicine management plan.”

The assessments take around three hours. An ADHD package costs £1600 and an ASD assessment package costs £2000. A combined ADHD and ASDt package costs £2200.

Makewell can prescribe medication and dispense it from its onsite pharmacy.

The clinic also offers reviews for people with an existing diagnosis. These cost from £345.