Psychiatric Second opinions

Psychiatric second opinions are completed by by consultant psychiatrists with and we can offer experts in Autism, Learning Disabilities, Forensic, General Adult, Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) and Old Age. We can complete independent second opinion reviews for clinical teams, and where required, multidisciplinary team input can be provided.

Referrals

We recommend that you speak with your GP and seek a referral from your GP to us in most circumstances. Your GP can write to us with a referral to our secure nhs mail account skylightpsych.referrals@nhs.net.

We can accept self-referrals for initial assessments where a GP referral is not possible and we can offer a full initial assessment and follow-up appointments. We would request your consent in this instance to contact your GP to obtain your past medical and medication information.

We can provide a range of treatment options including counselling, psychological interventions, private prescriptions for medication and others according to the needs of the individual and following evidence based practices.  We also accept referrals as a healthcare provider for specific medical insurance services. These will require an authorisation code from your insurance provider. Please fill out the attached form and email to help@skylightpsychiatry.co.uk if you wish to use your medical insurance provider to fund your assessment.

Cognitive assessments / Psychometric Intelligence tests

Psychometric tests are carried out by our psychologists. These are important in establishing an individual’s cognitive functioning, intelligence, adaptive functioning and level of learning disability. Various battery of assessments are used including the specialist WAIS-IV and ABAS assessments. 

Capacity assessments

We conduct capacity assessments in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The expert allocated to the assessment will be specific to the decision that capacity is in question. For example if capacity is requested for decisions around medication and treatment, we will allocate a psychiatrist and may require a speech and language therapist to assist with visual aides and communication adjuncts.

Positive Behaviour
Support Plans

Positive Behaviour support is a vital non pharmacological treatment intervention for people with a learning disability and/or autism in addition to mental health conditions.

It follows a person centred approach and is based on functional behaviour analysis completed through observations of the person and collaboration with nursing/care team. It follows best practice of treatment and care within the NICE guidelines.

Personality assessments

Personality assessments for people with autism and/or learning disabilities tell us about their personality traits and also whether they may meet the diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder. We use various tests including the PDI and PDQ4+ in addition to clinical examination.

Risk assessments (HCR20, ARMIDILO, RSVP, PCL-R)

We can complete person centred detailed risk assessments using appropriate tools such as HCR20 and specific to particular types of offending such as the RSVP for sexual violence. We also use specific tools for people with learning disabilities and/or autism such as ARMIDILO.

Communication skills and swallow assessments

These assessments are completed by our speech and language therapists. This is a vital aspect of holistic assessment as 1 in 3 people with a learning disability have a problem swallowing food or drink. Secondary problems to this include aspiration pneumonia and choking and it is one of the leading causes of death for people with learning disabilties.

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) 

EMDR therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and abuse.

This is carried out by specially trained psychologists and requires particular skill when providing interventions to the neurodiverse population for it to have a meaningful impact.