Raising a complaint about your GP surgery, have you done this and where would I start?

[Picklingwalnuts]

Before I start, I should say I'm not a natural born complainer. I rarely complain and have been with my GP surgery over 40 years and have never raised any grievances before now.

Beginning of last year I was advised by my psychiatrist (a gastro psychiatrist with no neuro diverse specialism) to seek an ADHD assessment.

I chose to go via the Right to Choose route and opted for a company called ADHD360. They had a 4-6 month waiting time back then. I printed off the forms, handed then to my GP surgery and waited as I know waiting times are long.

9 months on I thought I'd check with ADHD360 to find out how long the wait may be only to discover they have never received my referral. They said if the surgery could email the original forms with proof of date they could back date everything a d I should get an appointment soon.

I asked the surgery to do this (I have the forms on my Patient Access account and it clearly stated 1st May date stamp).

Surgery resent forms and I've discovered from ADHD that they had sent the original forms last year to a company called Psychiatry UK. This means ADHD360 can not backdate anything and I will have to wait a further 6-8 months as I am being treated as a new referral as of last week.

I've tried contacting Psychiatry UK to confirm they have received my referral but they promise to call me back and never do. I've called them 3 times now. Each time it's an hour on hold just to speak with someone. According to their website their waiting times are 18+ months.

I'm so annoyed with my surgery and feel as though I should complain as it's their cock up. I have no idea why they sent my referral to this other company when the postal and email address of ADHD360 is clearly stated on the forms that I sent beginning of last year.

What should I do?

in my area when GP are referring right to choose providers they are asked to consider if they will be happy to share care with the provider. We have one ADHD RTC provider accredited by our local process and would encourage GP to use that one as we have assessed the clinical governance process etc.
You do have the right to go elsewhere but entering a shared care is not mandated for GPs - they decide if they are happy with the detail of the arrangement. It could be something like this but of course they should have discussed it with you at the time and I do sympathise over how long these things can take as demand is so high.
Psychiatry UK wait times have increased significantly recently.
it might be worth asking the medical secretary if they can see where you are in the system as they sometimes can. Failing that,I would make an appointment with your GP to discuss why they chose a different provider and to explain that you are having difficulty contacting them and to explore your options in the current time.

This is what I'm finding most frustrating. When I handed the forms to them nothing else was discussed, I was simply told they had been stamped and approved by the GP (which shows on my patient online records).
I'm going round in circles as the medical secretary is just using a broken record technique of consistently saying it's now been sent but it's not backdated as they obviously failed to send the original forms.
I don't know what else to do but it seems unfair that I've waited 9 months only to find, due to their error and lack if communication, I will have to wait a further 6-9 months.

Your surgery should have its complaints policy online (or at least a complaints email address).

I recently had to complain about my surgery, and I emailed my issue for the attention of the practice manager, requesting it was treated as a complaint.

I also copied in patient liason at the local healthcare trust.

Had responses from both quite quickly.

A side note, Psychiatry UK will have you asses by an actual psychiatrist. ADHD360 offered me an appointment with a pharmacist who was qualified to diagnose. I got a refund (private assessment) based in the fact this information was not available until after paying a deposit and I expected a psychiatrist to be doing the assessment.

Oh thanks for that, I had no idea. I naturally assumed they were all psychiatrists.

Maybe your GP did know that which is why the forms were sent elsewhere?
Did you actually discuss this with your GP, or just drop the forms off with a receptionist?

My psychiatrist wrote to them first explaining that he had suggested I seek an assessment so I then followed that up by handed the forms over to the receptionist which the GP read, signed and date stamped. During this time they had the opportunity to contact me had they wished to discuss anything.

I have spoken to Psychiatry UK this afternoon and they have no record of anything being sent to them.