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No idea what to do with my GP

NInagw3

It’s been a long and tedious battle with my GP. And it’s  gotten to the stage now where I have no idea what’s going on but the doctors aren’t helping at all! 

It took a few appointments for anyone to take me seriously, and I ended up spending hours putting together questionnaires and essays to help get the referral, only the doctors lost this paperwork and now they are demanding I hand more in but I’m a little uncomfortable entrusting that information again. Isn’t there a way I could hand the paperwork into the place myself? Or just keep it with my until my referral? My doctors are not  very good with sensitive information... 

Also, while they rang me to inform me that the paperwork had been lost, they proceeded to tell me that every referral they’ve ever sent before to try and get an autism diagnosis has failed... which doesn’t give me much hope. Should I go privately? Is there another service I can use? The doctors are saying they need this paperwork so they can get funding, but I thought you only needed funding if there wasn’t a service in the are? I live in bradford and there is a service called BANDS although Ive heard they have a 3 year waiting list, but there is also LADS in Leeds that take referrals from Bradford so why do I have to get funding? 

Im really confused and I’m really stressing out. All I want to do is get diagnosed so I can get help and try to go back to university! I’m starting to loose hope that I will ever find a way to cope :(  

Parents

  • With the funding thing ~ GPs have to submit / apply for an Individual Funding Request (IFR) for each referral; to the Clinical Commissioning Group.

    In one once sense GP's are like children trying to pester their parents (the CCG) for particular things at Christmas or upcoming birthdays.

    In terms of losing 'patient information' ~ always keep a hard-copy of the information you send, and do it by recorded delivery, so that when it goes missing it is just a case of copying and sending it again ~ and keep mentioning that it is the second copy or the third as it can only happen so many times before it becomes beyond chance or reason.

    Some people also recommend e-mailing as well as using recorded deliveries ~ but definitely keep hard-copies, and keep on sending the information as GPs do not always get their individual funding requests first time.

    Remember ~ bureaucracy is a slow and cumbersome process in and of itself, and NHS funding is not currently sufficient to allow it to run smoothly or efficiently either.

    Obviously ~ if you can afford a private assessment ~ things happen at a much more relaxed and expedient rate involving your choice of psychologist, assessment venue or locality, wheras the NHS is a post-code lottery completely and utterly. In some areas you can be assessed in a matter of months and in others it takes years.

    May the force of the Aspie be with you and let not the dark-side of neurotypocracy previal ;-)

  • in reply to Deepthought

    Thanks for your help, I handed the paperwork in to the receptionist in person and did not send it by post this is why I have concerns about giving them more information. 

    Thank you for explaining the funding, I was confused about why there were asking for funding when a service was already available so thanks. 

    I was considering borrowing some money for a private assessment but someone told me I needed an nhs diagnosis to revive help or benefits. 

Reply
  • in reply to Deepthought

    Thanks for your help, I handed the paperwork in to the receptionist in person and did not send it by post this is why I have concerns about giving them more information. 

    Thank you for explaining the funding, I was confused about why there were asking for funding when a service was already available so thanks. 

    I was considering borrowing some money for a private assessment but someone told me I needed an nhs diagnosis to revive help or benefits. 

Children
  • in reply to NInagw3

    Hello, re private assessments - mine was accepted by the nhs for 'support' post-diagnosis without a problem (i say support in inverted commas because actually there is precious little support available). In terms of benefits I don't know, however there I think you have to go through a needs assessment anyway, so even if you have an nhs diagnosis benefits aren't guaranteed. I would think the important thing is that your GP would accept the diagnosis.perhaps they might be able to recommend somewhere for you to go privately?

    I think the main thing would be to be very careful where you go. I went to a diagnostician that is also used by the nhs so was pretty sure it would be OK. I think if the nhs uses that clinic themselves they can't really argue with it! Also I was more worried about getting support at work than anything and it seems to be fine there.