"I see the value of DART but my son is still without medication"

On behalf of my son, who is under 16yrs and has been suffering with skin problems, I used the DART service for the 1st time to book an appointment for him at a dermatology clinic. Our GP referred us to DART to book an appointment directly, we had no other option. There was lots of confusion about where the clinics were held – from Sidmouth to a ‘gypsy’ clinic which I knew nothing about.

I did some research and couldn’t find any reference of this ‘gypsy’ clinic so I called back and was told that this information was incorrect and our only option was to go to a dermatology clinic in Exmouth. We finally got an appointment in July (my son originally saw the GP in May), and when there, the doctor told us that we should never have been referred to him and that we should have attended the clinic in Exeter.

The other issue is that it’s now my understanding that only certain hospitals are able to prescribe and distribute the medication my son needs, and disappointingly, Exmouth are not able to do so.

We were told that we would need to begin the whole process again by going back to our GP and requesting to be referred to Exeter. I explained that I was not prepared to do this, after all, at that point it was at least 2 months since we had originally saw our GP and we had made no progress. The doctor in Exmouth offered to contact the clinic in Exeter directly to refer my son, which I can only assume he has done because I’ve not heard anything yet.

This referral process is now stretching into months, which is not acceptable. I can see the value of the DART service, but unfortunately my experience has not been a good one. I hope to hear from someone soon, but if I don’t, my only option will be to contact DART or my GP again. In the meantime, my son is still without the medication he needs 2 months on.