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Poor response to mental health crisis for teenager

Posted By Dazzle

"Poor response to mental health crisis for teenager"

About: General practices in Lanarkshire

(as a parent/guardian),

I contacted my GP this morning re my sons mental health which has reached crisis point. I was disgusted to receive a text reply which was not appropriate given the severity of the situation we are facing. I contact the surgery immediately with further information and was sent a second text message directing us to self help resources.

I would like to express my deep concerns at the way that my request for help  has been handled this morning. My son is extremely distressed - I don’t think that they comprehend how bad he is. We are doing CBT, Mindfulness etc at home with him. But he is in a constant state of panic and unable to properly engage with anything at the moment. His heart is racing, his breathing is rapid and he feels like he is choking and his throat is closing over.

I appreciate that it is a difficult situation given his age however I am extremely concerned about my son and need help for him in the interim. I know from previous experience that CAHMS can take up to a year for the referral to be accepted - my son needs help now yet the surgery state they cannot prescribe anything it has to be via CAMHS  

My son is currently extremely vulnerable and not coping. I am doing my best to support him however I am reaching out for URGENT professional help as I am at a loss. The school have also raised grave concerns in regards to his mental health and I am worried about the path this may lead to if he doesn't get urgent help. I was asked if I felt he was at risk of self harm  - it depends how you define self harm. He is currently afraid to eat and afraid to sleep, so in my opinion yes he is at risk of harm.

I am not medication seeking - my son is a child who never complains about anything so I know how bad things are for him right now.

I am looking for something to help give him some relief so that he can actually start to calm down enough to engage with everything else we are doing to support him. We are not sitting back looking for a magic cure, we are pro actively engaging in many things to support him and whilst the links to self help are appreciated - we are past that stage and I would not be contacting the GP for help if we weren’t. I need to speak to a GP - a text message is not appropriate in this situation and feels incredibly dismissive  

Right now he needs help. I have spoken to pharmacy and there are options available to my son that do not need a consultant to prescribe.

The only option that appears left to me is to arrive at A and E and that is also impossible at moment due to how bad his anxiety is - it is specifically health related so sitting in A and E would trigger him massively  

I am quite frankly disgusted with what has happened today from a practice which have always been so good  

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Montgomery, Improvement Coordinator, Quality Directorate, NHS Lanarkshire 7 months ago
Jennifer Montgomery
Improvement Coordinator, Quality Directorate,
NHS Lanarkshire

Operational Lead for Care Opinion in NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 06/10/2023 at 16:43
Published on Care Opinion at 16:43

picture of Jennifer Montgomery

Dear Dazzle,

Thank you for sharing your story on Care Opinion.

I am sorry to hear about the ongoing issues you are having with getting your son support from CAHMS and that your GP did not call you directly but sent a text message.

GP’s are independent contractors and are responsible for investigating and responding to any concerns a person may have about the service; they are not registered to respond directly to feedback through Care Opinion. Can I please invite you to contact the Practice Manager if you would like a direct response about the service or you can also contact Primary Care Patient Affairs, I have included their contact details.

PatientAffairs.Primarycare@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk Tel no. 01698 752800 Option 2

Kind Regards,

Jenni

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Dazzle (a parent/guardian)

Hi

I have raised the concern directly with the practice and am awaiting their response.

On a positive note after creating much fuss a GP did see my son and spent 1.25 hours with him.

This resulted in a more complete referral being passed to CAMHS and an appointment being generated for next week.

I think this shows clearly how very critical things were (and still are) for my son and how inappropriate the first two responses were.

My son was drowning in panic and fear - and the initial responses from the surgery were very poor. My son is fighting the hardest battle of his little life so far right now - and I need him to know that he has an army at his back including health professionals. We certainly did not feel like that with the initial response.

I feel that it is important to recognise where practice could be improved. I would ask the practice to consider how as a parent the responses that I received made me feel - and if it instilled a sense of hope that things could get better, or if it left me feeling hopeless?

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