To ask if she has grounds to ask to see someone else

[User566668]

A close friend has been struggling with mental health problems. Due to how unwell she’s got she been referred to the local CMHT. The appointment is with a psychiatrist that other patients have said that he has said inappropriate things to them. Obviously I know you can’t believe everything people say but when it’s a number of women. Obviously we don’t know either way but she’s now worried about the appointment.

That should say female member of staff to sit in.
Could you be present either physically or in a virtual consultation (they may invite you individually on a separate device or you can just be in the same room as person 1)

Your friend needs help now. Why not keep her appt and see how she gets on with him?
If he makes her uncomfortable, then is the time to request a different Dr.

But do you trust her?
He may be a very good psych. If she's already stressed going in and untrusting it will be harder. She could request female but may wait longer. I would personally take the appointment because they're hard to get.

There is highly unlikely to be another psychiatrist she could be referred to - there is a shortage and the ones in post are treated like gods by the higher ups. Best advice is to only go with someone to accompany her. There should not be an issue with her doing that.

Psychiatrists are powerful and in hard to fill jobs, as a result not all complaints get managed adequately. Either ask to see someone else but be prepared to state why or accompany your friend and if need be ask for a second opinion by seeing someone else, but again, be prepared to state why. The psychiatrist and his employer both deserve to know what's being said.

You would have to basically lie to get assigned a different person

If you say 'I don't want this psychiatrist because someone said he said something (even though I don't know exactly what) many years ago' then they are not going to feel obliged to provide a different one for that reason because there is no substance to it at all.
Anyone could make any unproven allegations just because they fancied seeing someone else.

If you want to get assigned to a different psychiatrist you'll have to give a better reason eg wanting to see a female psych and be prepared to wait or travel as each sector would usually only have one psychiatrist