My first born son has a diagnosis of ADHD and ASD, this is a diagnosis he had 9 years ago from when we were living in Essex. In Essex it was a quick process for
My first born son has a diagnosis of ADHD and ASD, this is a diagnosis he had 9 years ago from when we were living in Essex. In Essex it was a quick process for diagnosis, the schools referred him and we were seen within a few months by different specialists. Now all these years later and I am living in Oxfordshire and have had to fight every step of the way to get in the system. Firstly Jordan’s notes were ‘archived’ when we moved county, I had to apply for them to be taken out of archives, the process was long but eventually we got back in the CAMHS system. Ever since then he hasn’t seen the same Paediatrician, I am told they are short staffed and struggle to get the staff in general. But as he is in the system he gets seen every 6 months, although last time he couldn’t even see a paediatrician, he saw a ‘Health Care Advisor’ to try and relieve the pressure from the paediatricians. This Health Care Advisor was lovely, but obviously he had to just take notes and pass them to the paediatrician to get our repeat prescription, so it involved repeat trips and calls to get the prescription signed off.
Then there is Mark, my 6 year old who is suspected of having ASD. He has been referred by the GP and school, and despite sending all forms back 2 months ago, I had not heard anything from them. I rang up earlier this week to chase and make sure we hadn’t been lost in the system, and yesterday I had a call back. The doctor on duty explained they just don’t have the resources and they have a massive back log, she said that they don’t have enough staff and therefore he is in the very long waiting list. She also forgot to hang the phone up and I heard her read out his NHS number and how he is a non-urgent referral, she then continued to read out another child’s name and discuss how she has so many more to call. An accident? Yes, of course, but not very professional. It just added to the slap in the face that no one really seems to care.
So where do we go from here? We are under a local CAMHS that say that Mark won’t be seen before Christmas, they say they are short staffed and overstretched. Mark still needs help, and I feel like I have reached a brick wall. And then a letter pops through the door for Jordan to see CAMHS in December, as he is already in the system, go figure!