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Database for GP surgeries with autism experience

NAS64261

Hi,

this is going to be a kind of a long shot but I am posting this as a reaction to my GP appointment that I had this morning.

I am late diagnosed with autism and have had no support or treatment from any NHS department directly relating to my neurodiversity, apart from the lengthy process and waitlist to receive my diagnosis. On and off I have been with the mental health team to address my depression, anxiety and mood swings, and although I felt listened to in the initial first response team assessments and in the first two CBT sessions, they were unable to offer ongoing support, in their own words they chose to address the symptoms and not be bothered with the causes. One psychotherapist even bluntly said that if I was not progressing then that was because I wasn't trying hard enough to work on my condition!

Back to today's appointment, explaining to my GP that I had autism and was going through autistic burnout and circadian rhythm disorder, I directly asked if there was a GP that knew about autism and provide the adequate approach and support. His simple answer was no. I then asked if there was a database for GP surgeries that listed doctors or nurses specialised or experienced with autistic patients and he again said no and that I would have to do the field research work myself.

His response (forget about the lack of empathy)  shocked me. NHS databases exist to look up specialists such as dietitians, diabetic nurses, paediatricians, urologists etc. practicing at GP surgeries, they can even be filtered for patients requiring accessibility and Loop, but they throw a blind eye at people with autism or ADHD?

Any feedback or hints are much appreciated.  

Parents

  • My general take now as someone who continues to see the gp for other things is that a good one with refer immediately for things which require investigation by a specialist. Autism isn’t viewed generally as curable so it wouldn’t make much sense to refer for investigations once this is known but the symptomatic things related to it like poor sleep (which I suffer from) and others can be prescribed for or deferred to therapeutic services. When o say good go you need to understand that any decision may also be future damage limitation for their job. So referral for a heart scan, ct brain scan or cancer blood test will be in their interests but in some cases it’s not their decision to make but the specialist consultant you are referred to. I would like to know howASD is thought of by doctors because the only way I can manage it is by self medicating, and hugely antisocial practices which are also detrimental to my quality of life, which is what they should be supporting. 

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  • My general take now as someone who continues to see the gp for other things is that a good one with refer immediately for things which require investigation by a specialist. Autism isn’t viewed generally as curable so it wouldn’t make much sense to refer for investigations once this is known but the symptomatic things related to it like poor sleep (which I suffer from) and others can be prescribed for or deferred to therapeutic services. When o say good go you need to understand that any decision may also be future damage limitation for their job. So referral for a heart scan, ct brain scan or cancer blood test will be in their interests but in some cases it’s not their decision to make but the specialist consultant you are referred to. I would like to know howASD is thought of by doctors because the only way I can manage it is by self medicating, and hugely antisocial practices which are also detrimental to my quality of life, which is what they should be supporting. 

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