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Frequently Asked Questions: Neurodiversity Assessments

for Postgraduate Doctors and Dentists in Training

Overview

What kind of neurodiversity assessment do you fund?

We fund a holistic neurodiversity assessment, delivered by Genius Within CIC, which considers a range of neurotypes. Their person-centred assessment develops a profile of your strengths and skills, rationalises them in the context of your clinical workplace and postgraduate training, and identifies ways you can harness these strengths to be at your best more of the time. This includes identifiying strategies that utilise your skills to overcome any areas of challenge. This approach recognises that neurodivergence often presents a spiky cognitive profile.

Assessments take place virtually, with a qualified BPS/HCPC registered psychologist, and last between three to four hours. The assessment typically starts with a developmental case history, which looks for evidence of Dyslexia, Dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder), Dysgraphia and / or Dyscalculia, as well as traits of ADHD and Autism. A range of tests will be completed that allow the psychologist to confirm which neurotype(s) is a best fit for your profile. 

This holistic assessment applies neurodiversity affirmative practice, by recognising neurodivergence as individual difference, rather then the medical model which has historically seen neurodivergence as a 'deficit'. 

What are the benefits of having a neurodiversity assessment? 

The assessment process and outcome can increase self-awareness and understanding, by providing insight into your areas of strengths and challenges, and encouraging reflection. 

This enhanced insight may provide you with greater clarity to identify any support, adjustments or flexibility you need to be able to thrive at work and in training, which may include addressing or removing any barriers.

The psychologist will signpost you to available support, which may include medical practitioners if appropriate. Your assessment report will include how you can make the most of our strengths and apply them at work. It will also identify any reasonable adjustments that can be implemented to help you work at your best, which may includes recommendations for exam adjustments. This means your employer and/or trainers will be able to provide you with more tailored, indiviualised support. 

Our primary focus is to ensure that you can access the support you need. The real value of this assessment is it provides you with an opportunity to explore what that support might look like and how it can be provided.

What can the neurodiversity assessment diagnose?

The holistic neurodiversity assessment can diagnose Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia and other specific learning differences.

The assessment can only provide an indication of the presence of characteristics consitent with Autism and/or ADHD. It cannot provide a medical diagnosis. 

What if my assessment identifies characteristics of ADHD and/or Autism? 

If your assessment identifies charactieristics of ADHD and/or Autism, you can still access appropriate support. A formal diagnosis is not a requirement for requesting workplace adjustments or for accessing external support options such as Access to Work.

Unfortunately, we are unable to fund a diagnostic assessment for ADHD and/or Autism. As a training provider, our goal is to identify how we can support you - as an individual - to thrive throughout your training. One of the reasons we fund the holistic neurodiversity assessment is because of its person-centred approach in identifying and recommending tailored support options. 

If you would like to pursue a clinical diagnosis, you can request an assessment via your NHS GP, or via a self-funded route. Some private providers around the country accept referrals via the 'Right to Choose' pathway. You can search for this online and if a specialist NHS provider will accept this then you can take their details and the Right to Choose form to your GP and request a referral via this pathway to the provider of your choice.

How can I access an assessment?

A request for a neurodiversity assessment is made using our online request form. Please note that the request can only be submitted by a Training Programme Director. 

If you try to submit a request form without the involvement of your Training Programme Director, the request will be declined and we will confirm to you that an assessment cannot be arranged until a request is submitted for your Training Programme Director. 

We recommend the Training Programme Director completes the request form with you, particularly as it asks for contact details to facilitate the organisation of the assessment. 

The full process for requesting a neurodiversity assessment is outlined in our Guidance on Neurodiversity Support in Yorkshire and Humber. 

What is the difference between the client report and the manager's report?

After having a neurodiversity assessment with Genius Within, they produce two assessment reports: the client report and the manager's report. 

The client report is only shared with you. This report provides a detailed overview of the assessment process, contextualises the outcomes and explains key concepts with real life examples. It also lists the recommended strategies, adjustments and support mechanisms that are tailored to you. 

The manager's report is a redacted version of the client report. It is much shorter and provides a brief statement on the outcome of the assessment, a summary of your strengths and areas of challenge, and most importantly provides recommendations for support and adjustments. 

If you provide consent for the manager's report to be shared, it will only be accessible to the Yorkshire and Humber Professional Support Team and a copy will not be saved or shared with a third party. For further information about how we use your information, including the assessment outcome report, please see the responses to the next three questions.

What information about my assessment referral will you save, and where will it be stored?

When your Training Programme Director submits the request for a neurodiversity assessment, it will be received and reviewed by a senior administrator within the NHSE Y&H Professional Support Team. Where further information about the request is required, it may be shared with the Associate Dean that provides neurodiversity support to trainers. 

A copy of the request form will be saved in our NHSE Y&H Professional Support files. These files have restricted security permissions, and can only be accessed by the Professional Support Team. We save a copy of the request form for reference, in case you choose to access Professional Support in the future. It will be used for no other purpose. 

If we refer you for an assessment, the only information we will provide to Genius Within is your name, telephone number and email address (as provided on the request form). We will not disclose any of the contextual information provided within the neurodiversity assessment request form. We will copy you and your referring Training Programme Director into the referral email for your reference, and we will save a copy of the referral email to your central trainee file. These files also have restricted security permissions, and are only accessible to members of training programme management within the deanery. As this email does not contain any information about the reasons for the assessment request, no confidential or sensitive information will be accessible. We save a copy of this email to your central file so there is a central record that you have received a funded neurodiversity assessment. 

We maintain a neurodiversity assessment database which records the high-level reason for an assessment request (i.e. two ARCP outcome 3s). This database is saved in the NHSE Y&H Professional Support files. These files have restricted security permissions, and can only be accessed by the Professional Support Team. where it is only accessible to the Professional Support Team. We save this information to monitor the timeliness and effectiveness of our process. 

What information about my assessment outcome will you save, and where will it be stored?

In advance of your assessment, you will be invited to create an account on the Genius Within Client Portal. When creating your account, you will be asked to provide consent for information sharing. Two of the consent items are mandatory and you can't change them: consent to share your information with the Genius Within team and psychologists and consent for Genius Within to act in an emergency or safeguarding situation.

One of the items asks for your consent to share your assessment report with your manager. Please note that within our context, 'your manager' means the Professional Support Team in NHSE Y&H.

If you consent to the assessment report being shared with the Professional Support team, we do not receive the same report that is compiled for you. We receive what is referred to as a 'manager's report', which is a redacted version of the full client report that you receive. The manager's report confirms the identification of any neurotype(s), provides an overview of your individual strengths and challenges, and makes recommendations for appropriate support and reasonable adjustments. 

If you consent to the assessment report being shared with the Professional Support team, we will not save a copy of the report and we will not share a copy with anybody else (i.e. your employer or educators). A member of the Professional Support team will review the report for the purposes of recording the outcome of the assessment in our aforementioned neurodiversity assessment database (to assist our monitoring and evaluation of the assessment process) and to identify any Professional Support resources we may need to develop, if we identify recurring themes within outcome reports. 

 

As this outcome report will only be used by the Professional Support team for the purposes of monitoring and improving our processes and services, we would encourage you - where you feel comfortable doing so - to consent to the assessment report being shared with 'your manager'. 

How will you use my information?

Confidential and sensitive information contained within your neurodiversity assessment request form will only ever be used by the Professional Support team. This includes when determining your eligibility for a funded assessment and, where a Professional Support Referral has been submitted, as part of our standard process of reviewing a trainee's programme history prior to providing support. 

We will use the contact information provided in the neurodiversity assessment request form to refer you for a neurodiversity assessment. Genius Within will use this contact information to organise your assessment. Genius Within will ask you to consent to their data collection and sharing policies when you organise the assessment. 

We may also use your email address to contact you for feedback on our processes, or to inform you of opportunities that may be of interest and are related to neurodiversity (for example, the availability of training and workshops or invitations to participate in focus groups to inform our service development). Should you wish to be excluded from these communications, please email the Professional Support team to advise us of this. 

We will use the information recorded in our neurodiversity database to produce periodical evaluations of our process and its impact (i.e. assessment outputs). This data will always be anonymised, will always be aggregated, and will not be reported where there is a risk that the identity of individuals could be compromised or inferred. 

Can I be referred for a neurodiversity assessment more than once? 

The deanery will only fund one neurodiversity assessment through this pathway. 

Who should I tell about my assessment outcome?

We appreciate that disclosure of any health condition, including neurodivergence, is a personal choice. However, without others being involved and aware of the type of support you would benefit from, it will be difficult for you to access it. 

As a minimum, we expect you to share a copy of the 'manager's report' with your Training Programme Director, and to meet with them to discuss the assessment outcome. This will provide you with the opportunity to explore appropriate adjustments to your work and/or training. This conversation may identify a need to inform or liaise with other people involved in your work and/or training, to identify what can be implemented and the process for this. This may include your Educational or Clinical Supervisor or the HR department of your employing trust. It is important to establish and confirm whether or not you are happy for them to share the information more widely, in what circumstances and for what purpose. 

If you want future employers to be aware of your support arrangements, you will usually need to inform them in advance yourself. This is particularly relevant if you want adjustments to be put in place when you change trust. In some cases, if you've informed your HR department or your current employer they may pass this information on to your future employer, but we suggest that you check if this is routinely done and not make an assumption.

It may also be appropriate for you to access an Occupational Health assessment. The process for submitting a referral for an Occupational Health assessment varies from trust to trust, and in some cases you can self-refer to Occupational Health. We recommend speaking to your employing trust's HR department for guidance. 

If adjustments are recommended related to examinations, you will need to inform the exam board yourself - it cannot be done on your behalf. Exam boards have different arrangements for applying for reasonable adjustments and often have strict deadlines. Information about the process for your exam board can be found on their website or you may be able to seek advice and guidance from your Training Programme Direcor. Many exam boards require evidence to be submitted alongside a reasonable adjustment request, such as a copy of the parts of your assessment outcome report that specify the related recommendations (for example, additional time allowance). 

I think I might be neurodivergent but it's not affecting my training progression. Can I access a funded neurodiversity assessment?

Unfortunately, as we are a training provider, we are unable to provide funding for neurodiversity assessments unless potential neurodivergence is having an identifiable impact on your training. 

Although we aren't able to fund an assessment, we can still provide you with advice, guidance and support, and would encourage you to access it where this would be beneficial. To access support, please submit a Professional Support self-referral.

I think I might be neurodivergent but I don't want to have an assessment. Can I still access support?

Absolutely! There are many reasons why somebody may choose not to have an assessment, and we appreciate and respect that decision.

The Professional Support team is available to provide advice, guidance, signposting and support to any trainee, including those who self-identify as neurodivergent without a formal diagnosis. To access support, please submit a Professional Support self-referral.

You are also welcome to request reasonable adjustments from your employer without having a formal diagnosis. This includes being eligible to submit an application to Access to Work. 

 

 

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