
trombone_babe
Well-known member
are a joke!
Basically they don't care. I was referred to them in September as a means to get some talking therapy.
Well the first person I saw was lovely, she has been the only good thing about the service. However since then it has been a catalogue of blunders and being let down.
1. I turned up for my first appointment with the doctor there, only to be told that he/she was longer there (no further explanation). There was a new doctor but he/she was on an induction course. They must have known this when the appointment was made (as it was only the previous week) but they had not informed me that the appointment had been cancelled, I just turned up to find this had happened.
2. I then turned up to an appointment for the following week (having changed some travel plans to get there) to be confronted with a newbie who had no idea. She had to ask the consultant what meds to give me and fair enough, he came in and explained things to me.
3. I asked about the talking therapy. I was told I had been referred in November but there was a 6 month waiting list. Furthermore, I was told that they could not see me until I was "better". What's the point in that? I need help to get me through this, not as an afterthought. So I was given yet more drugs on top of what I was already taking. On top of this, I've since been told by my occupational health doctor that I won't be considered fit to work until I've had some talking therapy.
4. Next time I had an appointment with a doctor I saw a new consultant. She was very aloof and really talked down to me (I'm a professional person with a MH problem, not the village idiot), and suggested another change in meds. As I'd had a bad reaction last time I changed I expressed a little bit of concern, just "oh dear", nothing more. She then threatened me with hospital if I didn't want to do what she said. Needless to say I was extremely upset. The next session there was no apology, just "we had a bad session last time, but sometimes we have to push people to see how bad they are". I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And she changed my meds AGAIN.
5. Having been told to contact the department if I had any problems with the new meds, I rang them on Monday to say I think I was having a reaction to them (see my post about mirtazapine and restlessness). I was told there was no-one available to speak to me and that someone would ring back. No-one called.
6. Yesterday, having had a very bad day with this reaction and become very distressed, I went into the hospital as I was passing and asked to speak to someone. "Oh yes we had a call from you yesterday didn't we? We were going to leave it until Wednesday when your doctor will be back in." Nice of them to tell me.
. She then had to ring around quite a few people to find someone who would see me. Eventually a social worker came out and took the details of my problem, asked a doctor what I should do and sent me on my way with a small reduction in dose, pending my appointment with the intake team the next day (ie today). She's the nice one I saw first.
7. This morning I get a call to say my appointment had been cancelled due to an emergency (fair enough) and that I had to wait until the 17th to see her. That's much too far away in my opinion, so I asked if I could have something sooner. I've yet to find out if that's going to happen.
So quite a few problems. Basically I don't think that any of them, other than the lady from the intake team, give a damn. Sorry it's such a long post, I just felt that I needed to vent about this somewhere! I'm sure many of you have similar if not worse stories about MH services, I think the whole system is a joke.
Thanks for reading if you made it to the end, I feel a bit better now.
Basically they don't care. I was referred to them in September as a means to get some talking therapy.
Well the first person I saw was lovely, she has been the only good thing about the service. However since then it has been a catalogue of blunders and being let down.
1. I turned up for my first appointment with the doctor there, only to be told that he/she was longer there (no further explanation). There was a new doctor but he/she was on an induction course. They must have known this when the appointment was made (as it was only the previous week) but they had not informed me that the appointment had been cancelled, I just turned up to find this had happened.
2. I then turned up to an appointment for the following week (having changed some travel plans to get there) to be confronted with a newbie who had no idea. She had to ask the consultant what meds to give me and fair enough, he came in and explained things to me.
3. I asked about the talking therapy. I was told I had been referred in November but there was a 6 month waiting list. Furthermore, I was told that they could not see me until I was "better". What's the point in that? I need help to get me through this, not as an afterthought. So I was given yet more drugs on top of what I was already taking. On top of this, I've since been told by my occupational health doctor that I won't be considered fit to work until I've had some talking therapy.
4. Next time I had an appointment with a doctor I saw a new consultant. She was very aloof and really talked down to me (I'm a professional person with a MH problem, not the village idiot), and suggested another change in meds. As I'd had a bad reaction last time I changed I expressed a little bit of concern, just "oh dear", nothing more. She then threatened me with hospital if I didn't want to do what she said. Needless to say I was extremely upset. The next session there was no apology, just "we had a bad session last time, but sometimes we have to push people to see how bad they are". I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And she changed my meds AGAIN.
5. Having been told to contact the department if I had any problems with the new meds, I rang them on Monday to say I think I was having a reaction to them (see my post about mirtazapine and restlessness). I was told there was no-one available to speak to me and that someone would ring back. No-one called.
6. Yesterday, having had a very bad day with this reaction and become very distressed, I went into the hospital as I was passing and asked to speak to someone. "Oh yes we had a call from you yesterday didn't we? We were going to leave it until Wednesday when your doctor will be back in." Nice of them to tell me.

7. This morning I get a call to say my appointment had been cancelled due to an emergency (fair enough) and that I had to wait until the 17th to see her. That's much too far away in my opinion, so I asked if I could have something sooner. I've yet to find out if that's going to happen.
So quite a few problems. Basically I don't think that any of them, other than the lady from the intake team, give a damn. Sorry it's such a long post, I just felt that I needed to vent about this somewhere! I'm sure many of you have similar if not worse stories about MH services, I think the whole system is a joke.
Thanks for reading if you made it to the end, I feel a bit better now.

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