to NOT expect my GP to address a letter to my child

[PerpetuallyAnnoyedByHeadlice]

instead of "parent of X" ?

DD is 10

her hospital appts, immunisations, opticians appts etc have always come addressed to "parent/guardian of"

today a letter arrives for her. i think, that odd, i wonder what this is, and decide to open the letter as I think 10 is too young for her to be opening mail from an unnknown source (while I'm here please tell me, AIBU on that score too, opening her mail? LOL I hope not!)

the letter contains important info - not shattering news or anything but serious enouh to have put a real downer on my day thinking about it (please don't worry, DD is well and has not got to have anything nasty done to her , nothing like that)

I just think it was wrong that it was addressed to her, then "dear miss XY, our records show that you are a patient with PQRS condition and we are therefore writing to inform you of importnat changes to your treatment in future" that sort of thing

I am not even going to tell her about it till after xmas and am annoyed that i could have given it her to read herself, and she would be upset and worried as well!

Gah!

Sounds like a clerical oversight and hardly worth being irritated over imo.

I dont think 10 is BU to open her post from an unknown source. Its not like you rippped open all her Xmas cards and in retrospect it was the right thing so in a way you cant BU on this occasion, I dont think. I dont have older children, I would have thought anything under 13 is reasonable to open for them unless they are specifically expecting something or have specifically asked you not to (and even then if you suspected something dogey...)

YANBU (unless I am too!)

oh well maybe IABU then smiley - what if it HAD been something more sinister/serious though - they can clearly see from her records she is a minor, they should address medical letters to her parent!

yes I am irritated.

I agree with smileypeeple.

Although I am a bit at the fact my 20month old ds1 and 13week old ds2 get letters from the doctors addressed to them.

"To DS2, we see that you are due your 8week immunisations. Please phone to arrange an appointment for these."

He's clever, but not that clever.

I think YANBU. It sounds like an oversight though if they usually do it.

Well yes they should have. They slipped up.

Luckily as she's 10 you reasonably open her post, so no harm done by the mistake.

Shrug.

Oh and YANBU for opening her post!

YANBU! That's odd! Might be worth finding out from the GP why it was addressed to her and not to 'the parent/guardian of XXX'. My DS's letters are addressed like that.

YANBU

My father got a letter (despite the fact that I had power of attorney and had deliberately asked for all mail to be sent to me) saying words to the effect of 'Dear Mr X, you have been awarded attendance allowance as your mental condition means you are unfit to be left by yourself....'

Clerical error there too but you can imagine how upset he was (mental condition did NOT prevent him from reading and understanding the letter). The goverment office that sent the letter was very apologetic but by then the damage had been done.

Hmm, I must be more upset by the implications of whats in the letter than I thought then, if I am so annoyed by a simple clerical error. yes if it was something very trivial, it would not matter that they had written to her and if she had opened and read it.

LOL at letters to babies asking them to phone for appt! that did raise a smile

oh thats very sad whatdoIknow

YANBU

OMG vinvin!!!!

vinvin - so sorry about your baby DD

YANBU at all. Nor are you BU to open your daughter's mail as she is only 10, in fact I think anyone not doing it would BU.

If they are changing her prescription medicines, then the letter woukd come from someone at the PCT using the GP stationery. I wouldn't complain but I would point it out so it hopefully wouldn't happen again.

We have people regularly in our surgery swapping repeat medicines from one brand to another to save medicine.

We always try & write to "PArent of" anyone under 16, but I can see that mistakes could be made.

Oh vinvino that must be so hard for you.
I am so sorry you have to put up with that.

I git really hissy the first time they wrote to dd to offer her vaccinations.
I phoned up being really arsy assuming this was an attempt to undermine my decisions.
I realise now they are just crap and it is a clerical cock up.
Fortunately my gp is bloody brilliant so I forgive them.

Difficult. Not so much at ten, but certainly at 12 I was expected to sort out my own doctor and dentist appointments, and I think my mum would have had a coronary if letters about my contraceptives had been addressed to her instead of me when I was 14.

sn't 12 the age at which a child has medical autonomy from his/her parents (whilst conscious, anyway)

It's always been this way where I live. My son had letters addressed to him when he was three months old, to inform him that his jabs were due, and going decades back, all my doctor's appointments were addressed to me during infancy and beyond.

I can't say it bothers me, but that's because I don't know any different.

vinvin - given how long ago it happened it is inexcusable that their record keeping has not caught up with this, and i understand something of how you feel having lost a stillborn DD myself 6 yrs ago.

Have you written to them to get your DD off the mailing,list? I am sure it is a computer generated thing not that your/her records are so out of date. even so it is wrong when different linked agencies cannot transfer info easily from one dept to another

My 10 yr old DD received a letter telling her our GP had died. (I didn't get one) Her face fell as she read the letter and said "someone's died". I did not raise it with the surgery as it seemed insensitive at the time.