"Extremely let down"

I was referred to NHS Lanarkshire Occupational Therapy - Child services at Douglas Street in 2021 to help with my child's sensory needs.

I had an initial telephone call with staff in the October and it went well. I felt listened to and that the person I spoke to understood what I was dealing with. One thing that I will say, is they repeatedly said my child's name wrong and when corrected, it continued. From there, communication was really sparse. My case wasn't picked up by anyone else when the therapist leading on our case wasn't there. 

I asked them in November if they were able to refer me to Westmark for a buggy for my child. They said they would do that right away. I then received a phone call in January for a check in. I asked if they had made the referral, they said they would as this call ended. I didn't hear from them again until I contacted them in distress in March to ask about the buggy as my child was putting themselves in danger unknowingly. They said they had done it but couldn't understand why I hadn't heard from Westmark. 

I contacted Westmark myself to see where we were at on the waiting list. I was advised that no referral had been made. I called Occupational Therapy back and was advised the person I spoke to wasn't available. I let reception know that I wasn't happy that they had advised the referral was made when it appeared that it hadn't. I actually contacted my Health Visitor to do it instead. Westmark asked me to call back on the Monday to ensure the referral came through from my Health Visitor. When I did contact them, they advised a referral came through on Friday from Occupational Therapy.

In summer 2022, I had a Zoom call with the Occupational Therapist and their colleague to discuss my child. I advised that I had safety concerns for my child and the OT said they would refer me on to SLC OT in the hopes of receiving a Safe Space Bed. This referral was one of the best things they did for my child. I received a Sensory Assessment of my child's needs as well as 2 home visits and nursery visits. This OT did advise me that they were informed that the child services OT would be discharging me, but hadn't actually told me themselves. When I approached them on this matter, they advised that they just said that so I would receive the help with my child.

After that, I had little communication with staff until the OT visited my child's nursery as part of a staged intervention meeting. At this meeting, they continued to call my child the wrong name before declaring that they would see them today and the following week but they were looking to discharge my child as there was no further need for their services. To be honest, I didn't disagree as I hadn't received a service to start with. In visiting my child in the nursery room, they continued to call my child the wrong name and asked the key worker what they were going to do to get their shoes back on their feet. The OT then advised my child's key worker to force the shoes on their feet and to take the choice away from mum (I have an agreement in place with the nursery as well as a signed risk assessment that states due to my child's sensory needs, we won't force shoes on their feet).

Occupational Therapy called me to advise that they would be out to see my child the following week at the nursery but would be discharging them. I advised of what the nursery said and how I was unhappy with this. I asked them not to force my child to do anything as they are non-verbal and can't say how this makes them feel. The OT said that the nursery had got it wrong. The following week, they visited my child at nursery. They entered the establishment and again said they were there for my child but got their name wrong again. When corrected, they said that they were sorry. They then entered my child's room and proceeded to approach another child to take through for assessment thinking it was my child. When corrected, they went to bring my child in, who was extremely distressed. It took for the manager to step in and be my child's voice for them to leave my child where they were settled. The OT went through a few strategies with the nursery regarding shoes then left. We were then discharged.

I had high hopes from our initial call and was extremely let down. I feel I received more help from the South Lanarkshire Council Occupational Therapy Service than I did from this one. The repeated use of the wrong name and when corrected, they continued it. A complete lack of service provided.

Staff attitude