"Southwark IAPT - Generally poorly organised"

Firstly it has taken me over nine weeks between my GP referral and my first face to face appointment with my counsellor/therapist at the Southwark Psychological Therapies Service at the Munro Centre. This was disappointing.

Secondly, the organisation seems disorganised and short staffed and highly backlogged. Nobody was able to answer exactly when or how I would be seen despite myself repeatedly chasing up on the issue.

Thirdly, I received three identical forms to complete over the past few weeks by email and post, and then found I had to redo the same one with my therapist as they lost it and another that went missing.

Fourthly, when I actually got to see my therapist, I felt rather rushed. At the end of the session they did not schedule me in for any further follow-up appointment. When I asked they said they would have a look in their diary but never did. Then when I eventually got hold of them by telephone, only then did they book me back in and apologised for their current workload.

Fifthly, the therapist didn't seem to be fully briefed with some of the things that we had discussed in the previous sessions and had to ask some questions again. They also forgot to follow up with their supervisor on certain things, because they were too busy.

On the plus side, I have almost recovered, but this was mainly down to other factors.

This unit seems to have only played a minor to moderate role in my recovery instead of a more significant or substantial one.