Struggling to access NHS services?

[Knittedbunny]

I'm new here so sorry if I've made some mistake posting this!

I'm under the care of the LMHT and I've been trying to get in touch with my psychiatrist for 3 weeks, every time I get through I'm told "he'll call you back asap", the first time they also said it wouldn't be the same day because he was unavailable that afternoon (understandable, I called at like 3pm, I was never expecting to speak to him immediately). I was told to call back when I was done tapering off my old medication (which was making me worse, a failed experiment in SNRIs I guess) and he'd see me asap because I don't do well without medication.

Now I'm stuck without any meds (except for my ADHD, they do nothing for my mood though) and no therapy (that I was promised a referral to over 2 months ago and have heard nothing about, not even whether the referral was actually made). I feel terrible all the time, I'm almost completely non-functional, probably not safe and I'm too scared to even call the crisis service because the only 2 times I've tried to call they never answered or called me back and I don't think with my abandonment issues I could cope with that happening again.

Is there anything I can do about this? Some way to stop them ignoring me? Or do I have to hope I'm still alive in March when my next scheduled appointment is and hope I can deal going cold turkey on ADHD meds for a month until then as well?

[EspressoBeans]

Your psychiatrist is negligent and you deserve better. Is there any way to see a different psychiatrist in the meantime, even online in a virtual meeting? They may be able to prescribe you what you need and also give you the therapy referral.

[Knittedbunny in reply to EspressoBeans]

I would have no idea how to go about requesting a change, but to be honest it seems like an issue with the whole team and because which team you see is based on where you live, I can't change that.

Also as far as I know there isn't any record of my adhd diagnosis, I've been trying to get confirmation sent to my gp for months so I can provide evidence to my university, but the record doesn't seem to exist so I don't know if I'd be able to get those meds from another psychiatrist.

The whole system is so confusing and they clearly don't care what happens to me, I just don't want to deal with them anymore

[EspressoBeans in reply to Knittedbunny]

In that case, you have two options: to keep fighting or to give up. Obviously giving up and just forgetting about it is easier, but I really want you to keep trying.

In order to get what you need, you need to become the biggest nuisance possible. Start calling every single day and sending an email every night. Explain your situation every single time. Sure, they may be busy, but that doesn’t give them the right to be careless. If that doesn’t work within four days, start calling every two hours the whole time they’re open.

I know it’s hard. I know it would take a lot of work. But if you aren’t going to advocate for yourself, no one else will for you.

[Knittedbunny in reply to EspressoBeans]

There's no email, only the phone number for a receptionist and I get so anxious making phone calls, every time involves multiple panic attacks and I just don't think I can keep doing that. If there was someone else I could contact I'd probably be willing to try that, but knowing I'm not getting any useful response from them makes the hours of anxiety/panic and then dealing with feeling rejected not worth it.

Since I'm only talking to receptionists usually, I don't want to tell them much beyond 'I was promised help and I really need it' but I also spoke to the duty worker and explained more, still no call back. The problem is they don't care, I don't want to give up because if I accept that I'm not going to get anywhere I'm literally just resigning myself to suicide, but if my choice is between dealing with the stress of more phone calls to people who won't help me and giving up, I'm choosing to give up

[EspressoBeans in reply to Knittedbunny]

Do you have anyone who understands your phone anxiety (because I actually have phone anxiety too) who can make the calls on your behalf?

Or, alternately, can you commit yourself to making one hard phone call? Where you tell the receptionists EXACTLY what is happening and how negligent the doctors are being? If the receptionists are not aware of the extent of your situation, they may not be passing on the urgency.

[Knittedbunny in reply to EspressoBeans]

I'm going to try one last phone call today and write down what I want to say before I call, hopefully I'll be more assertive that way. If that fails, I think I'll try my gp and see if they can get a response.

[Lili986]

Can you call your GP for your prescription medicines? Do you have an email address for anyone in your LMHT? Keep contacting them or ask your GP to give them a nudge.

[Knittedbunny in reply to Lili986]

My gp doesn't actually have a record of my adhd diagnosis or prescriptions beyond me telling them so I think they'd be in the wrong even if they did agree to prescribe it tbh. I've been told not to contact the gp with mental health stuff now I'm under the LMHT so I don't think they can help me at all.

All I have is a phone number, I've called a couple of times but like I said they just tell me the Dr will call me back and then he just... doesn't. I get so anxious making phone calls and every time they don't/won't help me I just feel worse so I really don't want to keep calling them saying the same thing when it's just wasting my time.

[Lili986]

They have a duty of care, so they should be responsding back. Is there a website you can get their contact details from? If you don't get a response, you need to tell your GP. They will respond to him/her.

[Knittedbunny in reply to Lili986]

The website only has a phone number, I'm going to give them one more call today and if that doesn't work I'll go through my gp and just accept them telling me I did it 'wrong'

[Hidden]

Phone your Doctors Surgery and ask for either a telephone appointment or possible eye to eye appointment. and explain how you are feeling and the lack of interaction between your service provider.

The problem at this time there are many people after a treatment assessment because of Covid and peoples concerns. Your Doctor may be able to contact you service provider or arrange a Crisis Team or other services

BOB

[hypercat54]

Hi I'm sorry to hear how you are being ignored by your medical professionals. I know what that's like. Why don't you write to the practise manager as they should investigate.