Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all
Well next in the list of dramas while waiting for my referral for diagnosis! When I found where I was getting referred to (which took a lot of work), they told me they had my referalr, which is great! Then they added oh but we can't add you to the waiting list until we have your local authority funding form. My GP had told me funding had been approved. Trying for days to find out who actually holds this has been a nightnare! Spoke to a useful organisation called hope for autism, they generally only deal with advice for children, but we're happy to help and have been tremendous, doing all the contact and investigation for me. Hopefully will hear on monday, bit what a lot of red tape nonsense involved in a diagnosis!
Well i decided to call my GP again, i spoke to them a month and a half ago, and was told funding was approved. Turns out they had sent the referral letter and not the funding paperwork!! Absolute idiots! so thats a month and a half wasted, and if i hadnt been chasing it up id have waited indefinatley and never been put on the waiting list! jeez!
Sorry, I was more referring to being told by the actual place you had been referred that you were on their waiting list, not just being told by your GP.
If they've any sort of good practice, they should send you a letter to confirm that. I would think it would be fairly unusual to be completely left in the dark without any sort of letter from the assessment service, unless something had indeed gone wrong. I would agree it would definitely be worth chasing it up directly with the assessment service if you've only your GP's word for it and haven't heard anything from them (after a few weeks has passed and they've had time to process any initial paperwork or screening).
When a GP says your on the waiting list, that just means its passed from their control to whoever is actually doing the assessment. My GP told me that too, only on contacting the assessment place - i wasnt on the waiting list until they receive the funding form from the local authority. The GP has no involvement or knowledge about that. Im sure many times that all happens seamlessly, i suspect though some of the long timescales people experience is partly to do with red tape happening in the background. For myself i like to try to be on top of that, its only me thatll suffer with delays after all, noone else cares much. Thats just me though
Different areas have different diagnostic pathways and not all of them will have issues with having to apply for specific funding.
If you've been told you're on a waiting list, it should mean everything is fine.
If you've received questionnaires from your gp that's standard, but your GP sends the referalr onwards to whoever will assess you. Most times I imagine it's fine, if your concerned then just ask where your being referred to, I just said I wanted to be able to ask them directly about timescales and they were fine with that. Wouldn't do any harm
After reading your posts I am now worried. My GP simply says that I am on the waiting list and the only thing I should do now is to wait.
I received the questionnaires and sent them back filled in.
Really, if there will be a problem it will be the GP's fault.
Good for you, glad to hear
I know that I am on the waiting list. I keep asking about the waiting list from time to time.
My GP referred me too, the local authority pays generally by past experience has taught me it's a good idea to find out where you are being referred to, then contacting them to make sure all the required paperwork is in place. It's a lengthy enough wait without having to deal with lost paperwork which happens all the time unfortunately. If I hadn't checked I would never have known the local authority hadn't sent the funding paperwork, I would have been months into the process before I even made it onto a waiting list, the NHS is such a shambles these days I also prefer to be on their backs a little
My GP and the place where I was referred never asked me about the money. I have no idea who is going to pay for the assessment.