vaccinations !

[meplusone]

just wondering if anyone has experienced this. we are adopting a girl aged thirteen month and three weeks old , court papers are being prepared but parental responsibility is currently with LA .

social worker asked us to register with doctor and book vaccinations which i did 6 weeks ago. we told our childs social worker that we registered and booked vaccination as they requested. There is a long wait and this was earliest the clinic could do. We also gave in a form provided by social worker requesting our name was used in appointments instead of birth name.

So we turned up at clinic and when we used "requested " name they said they could only use birth name she is registered under, they then proceeded to announce it electronically and put her full name and d.o.b on a large screen , the surgery was packed and our ac parents live in and have family who maybe in area, we were gobsmacked,
when we got into clinic and asked if we were parents we replied that we were adopting her they looked through their electronic files and said that as our child was lac and they had nothing in writing they couldnt vacinate her.

so now we have left a message for our social worker and wondering what to do , the clinic are saying they have no more appointments in under 6 weeks unless they have a cancellation. I dont know if we should have done anything different and are waiting a call back .

any advice please , it all seems crazy

[Maiyakat]

DD had vaccinations shortly after placement with me. I had no issues with consent, although I had a letter from the LA giving consent for any routine treatment if required. Could you ask for something like that?

Everything to do with health remained under DD's birth name until the adoption order (and she has complex health needs so it was used a lot!), thankfully our GP's don't have the electronic announcement system. Unfortunately the NHS is somewhat archaic and often cannot cope with such complexities as using a 'known as' surname.

6 weeks seems a ridiculously long time to wait - vaccinations only take a few minutes to do!

[UnidentifiedSighingObject]

Re the consent, when we had our Intro planning meeting, we were given copies of the birth cert and a letter from the LA authorising us to consent for routine and emergency medical treatment (but requiring LA to also agree for major elective treatment). Get onto your LA because it sounds like the SW has dropped the ball on that, and it must have been a right pain for you.

Re the security, not everyone in your GP practice will know the full capability of the electronic records system, in my experience! Could you ask to speak to the practice manager, and ask them how they propose to manage this issue since it is a safeguarding children issue? I found that focussed their mind considerably... They were able to use a "known as" option which usually helped, and they were also able to come and get us for the appointment instead of putting a name up on the scrolling display.

[JammyJimmy]

Our LA have given us a letter giving us consent for vaccinations and medical treatment.
My GP had the same carry on with the big electronic sign and when I book appointments for dd they book them in my name so it's my name that appears on the screen. If they can't maintain basic security for child protection then I'd look for an alternative practice I think. It's hardly rocket science is it.

[Velvet1973]

Same as jammyjimmy here. We were given the letter of authority and our dr's surgery call my name instead if his.
I think as unidentifiedsighingobject said mention "safeguarding" and they tend to take you more seriously and acknowledge it rather than dismiss you as a parent trying to get one over on the dr's receptionist- heaven forbid!
Our practice do get it right 99% of the time but it did lapse on an emergency situation where there wasn't an actual appointment as lo had picked up a bee and tried to eat it resulting in being stung! They said to take him straight down and obviously hadn't prepared the nurse to use my name instead.

[meplusone]

thanx everyone for good advice
fortunately we had health visitor appointment today so when i told her what had happened she said the surgery had discussed it with her and she had said that childs name couldnt be changed, so i told her that as we would not disclose childs birth name to general public so as to protect her confidentiality and keep her safe i didnt think doctors and receptionists should be allowed to share her surname and compromise her safety.
she said she hadnt thought of that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and would speak to safeguarding nurse and see what they could do ?

I really think that she thought i wanted to bypass the system and change her name for fun without any understanding until i explained.waiting to see what is agreed
also sw called and said they had forgotton to send letter saying we had interim parental responsibilty so they are going to send one now and speak to surgery

thankyou again everyone , you can feel very alone when adopting but dont know anyone else so this board is really useful - thanks again

[Velvet1973]

Glad you're getting it sorted. I do think Dr's receptionists are a breed unto themselves and hate doing anything that you as a patient ask for! They think they have some kind of power that means we do as they say and not the other way around. ??