On NHS waiting list 2 years now have to move & told I must move to bottom of list in new area - AIBU?

[BloodyBeaurocracy]

Feeling stressed about this. I was on the waiting list for ASD assessment which took 2 years. Dr doesn't think I have ASD (just traits) but feels strongly that I have ADHD and a diagnosis could help as it would open doors about medication.

He has referred me to the separate team for ADHD in the same department at the same hospital.

I have to move as am being priced out of central London. I intended to look at places in zone 5 & 6. The Dr said if I do this, they will be duty bound to remove me from their service, refer to new NHS area trust and that waiting lists will be another 2 years. As opposed to several months with current hospital as it's an internal referral.

Additionally, they had a mix up and lost my notes over the Christmas period which delayed things by a couple of months. I can't help but feel if they had not done this, the referral to ADHD team would have happened sooner and I'd be in their system.

So pissed off. I don't have the money to pursue private diagnosis, and the Dr said he thinks - only his opinion, I know but still - that I could be helped by medication.

I really struggle with executive function. It has a massive impact on my life. I'd like to at least have a shot at improving things even though I know there are no guarantees.

AIBU to feel this way? AIBU to ask if there is any way I can be kept with them even when I move?

The difference in rent is several hundreds a month, that's a big sum of money to me that I just do not have.

You might need to hold off registering with a new GP for now. I'm not sure if the hospital would know though.

I had this problem a couple of years ago - except the issue I was dealing with was kidney failure, and it needed an operation. I told them I was going to have to move across the country at the end of my fixed term job contract (many months from that point, well over the 18 week target).

I was told by the trust I was moving from, and by a consultant surgeon in the extended family, that I would keep my place when I moved from one trust to the other. The bastarding new trust put me to the bottom of their waiting list, and claimed that this was policy and I should have been told. I came within a gnat's whisker of losing my kidney altogether as a result.

Get your mail redirected OP, and lie through your teeth about where you're living. They'll rob you blind otherwise.

Just be prepared that, if you do choose to move and have your mail redirected, the hospital WILL ask you to confirm your address when you check in for your appointment.

Are you in England? If so, I don't think your GP is giving you the correct info. NHS choices says that you CAN register with a G.P out of area.

They may also be wrong about the waiting list. I remember looking into this when I moved in the middle of some hospital treatment recently. The 18 week maximum wait for treatment should not be affected if you move trusts. (I'll have to go and find the document I read this in). This does only apply to treatments commissioned by NHS England though, no trusts (anything consultant led usually is).

You might need to hold off registering with a new GP for now. I'm not sure if the hospital would know though.

I wouldn’t change your address on anything until this is resolved. Not so much as your boots advantage card!!

Part of any ASD assessment will be around your living circumstances. You're going to trip yourself up by having to lie, and your assessment is going to be so focused on not tripping yourself up that it's not going to be productive.

If you have an idea of where you're moving to, you can find out where they refer to. It may well be the same place and you can then start asking questions as to whether you can secure funding quickly enough to stay on the list.

It's a nightmare situation, but any psychological assessment built around lies is a waste of your time, and a waste of NHS resources.

I really do feel for you, I would never slag off the NHS, it is a fantastic institution, but this is where you have been let down, I am a UK citizen but I live in OZ and this would never happen here. Granted, I have to pay a contribution towards my healthcare but it is minimal, once I am under the care of a specialist it really does not matter where I live as long as I can turn up for appointments and such, I cannot believe in this day and age your case can not be transferred to another trust and you just continue your care. Yours is a MH issue but what happens to other cases for example cancer patients, does their chemo and other treatment automatically stop if they move into another NHS trust area? Surely not....and why therefore should your treatment stop?

For those referring to NHS Choices, the same rights do not apply to mental health/ learning disability funding. You cannot choose where you receive treatment, and even if you go to a GP out of area any MH treatment or funding will be according to what is available for your address, not where the GP is.

Mental health funding does not have parity with physical health, and never will have under a Tory government.

Yours is a MH issue but what happens to other cases for example cancer patients, does their chemo and other treatment automatically stop if they move into another NHS trust area? Surely not....and why therefore should your treatment stop?

As someone who had a physical health problem (not cancer) my treatment was delayed (put to bottom of waiting list again) because I unavoidably moved house (simultaneous end of tenancy and end of fixed term employment contract). This isn't a MH vs PH issue.

The NHS choice policy only applies if OP is not able to see a consultant in her area within the specified maximum waiting time. Does anyone know what that is for ADHD diagnosis? I know mental health services in general can have wildly varying maximum wait times.

Just saw Bombardier's post so please ignore mine!

If you do this don’t change gp or tell gp you’ve moved out of area.

Honestly all this waiting for ADHD assessments is ridiculous.

My GP mentioned me maybe having ADHD in 2007 and I was diagnosed and medicated within a month.

I don't understand why it has become so complicated.

AvocadosBeforeMortgages - I absolutely do not see any difference between MH and PH, I wasn’t even trying to make that point, quite honestly I just believe health treatment should be a seamless process following diagnosis and shouldn’t dephend on where the heck you live, that was my point. Don’t waste your energy antagonising those how actually support you xx

I Didn’t register with my new doctor for 1.5 years! Kept travelling back to the old one
No one noticed
London-fine
Not like you’re moving to Manchester
Just don’t mention moving

Get a redirection- but I don’t even think you need to bother with that unless letters are important
You can do redirection for 12 months

Bombardier, I think you’re incorrect. You can have your MH treatment at other providers according to the NHS information.

Also, both MH and PH treatment is based on which CCG your GP is part of, not your residential address. Residential address defines what social care you receive.

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/mental-health-services-explained/Pages/accessing%20services.aspx#choice

You have the legal right to choose which provider and clinical team you're referred to by your GP for your first outpatient appointment. In most cases you have a right to choose which mental health service provider you go to in England.