Frustrasted with GP

[custardtart1963]

I have been trying for the last 18 months to get my 17 year old son to the doctor as he has become very depressed and unable to cope with day to day life. Finally, I have succeeded and he has been prescribed with anti depressants and online CBT.
However the struggle I had actually getting him seen by a GP was awful.
They refused to allow me to make an appointment , insisting it must be him who physically make it, even though I explained the circumstances, they refused to deal with me!
Has anyone else experienced this problem with GPs and also anyone out there who I can share my situation with a depressed teen?

Sorry I can't help with exactly what you are asking, but could you change to a different gp practice?

Also a little bump for you...

My dd struggles with depression. She is nearly 17 and certainly so far we haven't had problems making appointments on her behalf... Seems strange that this would be an issue for the surgery. Surely as long as the patient attends, what does it matter who books it!? Are there other surgeries local to you?

Teen depression is horrible and I find that unless people have experienced it with their own children they really don't understand what you are going through. I hope that ADs give your DS the lift he needs - they have certainly helped my DD although we still have some way to go. Make sure you look after yourself too.

Xx

I don't understand why they wouldn't let you make the appt

I'm a gp receptionist and we have parents making appts for their dc who are 20/30/40 even 50! There are times when I think 'for goodness sake he is old enough to make his own!' but only when it's for a cold or something.

You definitely shouldn't have a problem making the appt it's ridiculous. I would write a letter to the manager asking why this rule is in place and get your son to write a letter stating that you can book/cancel his appts for him (and if he wishes that his medical conditions can be discussed with you).

It may be worthwhile clarifying with the practice manager or the actual GP what the issue with making the appointment was.

In our practice anybody can (in theory) make an appointment for anybody, but the dr can only actually deal with the person in question when it comes to making a plan for the way forward.
It is difficult when dealing with teens from a professional point of view, because they are old enough to have a say in their treatment (and it is very important that they are on board), but otoh it may be more obvious for those around them to see how bad things are.

I think the key here is, as every, GOOD communication.
If you did not feel heard in your difficulties making an appointment then please take is further - reception staff tend to do as they are told to do, so there might be a policy in place than needs clarifying/challenging? Or is there a training need for reception/that particular member of staff?

I hope you get help for your DS and that he feels less bad v soon.

Thank you all so much for your responses and I will write to the Practise Manager as suggested although I have been told it is their policy not to take calls from the parent once the child is over 16. This is a legal requirement but how many 16 yr old boys , do you know , who would feel confident enough to make the appointment especially when they ask what the issue is!!

See, this is where I think the misunderstand (?on their side/?on your side) might lie - by law they cannot discuss results or medical details with a teenager's parent once they are over the age of 16 without their express permission, but making appointments?
Whole other ballgame and should really not be a problem.

Hope you get it sorted

Pacific is correct. We cannot discuss anything medical, or even tell you if they have an appointment booked, but you can certainly book one for them! Lots of people get anxious about using the phone, have hearing problems or are too ill to even use the phone.

Thanks again, I thought this was a frustrating but procedure. However, the history on this is that when my son was 14 he was seeing a psychiatrist, privately through his fathers private health care. He had a number of sessions which suddenly stopped. I tried a number of different holistic treatments with little success. When my son was 16, I spoke to the doctor to make an apt for him , as they operate a triage system, whereby you call to make an appointment and the doc rings you back to assess how urgent the appointment is. I told him I was very worried about my sons' erratic and aggresive behaviour . During the phone call he put me on hold to read through my sons' notes, however I wasn't on hold and I heard him say "diagnosis: Borderline Personality Disorder", at which point I said , "What"!! he apologised to me saying he thought I was on hold and put the phone down.

The reason for my shock was that I had not been told of this diagnosis and we had been muddling through with my sons behaviour and issues without ever realising that I could have helped him if I had known.

The same doctor, who is head of practise, refused to discuss this with me further because of my sons age, private info, and my letter to the practise manager and the doctor have been ignored.

I still feel bitter about this but we have to move forward but feel my son should have had so much more support and we still we struggle......even just to make an apt!

Would your son allow you to discuss his medical conditions with the GP? We have people at work who are happy for their family members to have access to their information.

Oh, custard, how horrible.

If you are happy to stay with the practice, can you see another dr?
Or change practice if you are not happy with their care generally?

Alternatively, your DS can give written consent to allow you access to his health records and to deal with his medical needs - this information would be help with his records electronically and would be visible whoever dealt with anything regarding his health (even reception staff).

Borderline Personality Disorder is a bit of an umbrella phrase and whether or not you could have helped your DS better had you known is impossible to know with hindsight. BUT it should have been communicated so much better to you and him.

Given his history with Camhs, I think the GP should still be referring him on to camhs, if he is not yet 18, as generally GPs dont necessarily have the expertiese of prescribing ADs for under 18s and if he is not coping, he will be in need of specialist support. Also there should be careful monitoring of ADs should be alongside talking therapies (and prescribed by a psychiatrist according to NICE guidelines) for under 18s.

. It may be if he's close to 18 in your area you would be dealing with adult mental health services where the threshold for help can be higher, but given your situation and his history,camhs involvement seems relevant.

In term of diagnosis at 14, my Dd was similarly diagnosed (amongst a number of diagnoses in her case at that age by different specialists) it turned out not correct in her case, nor probably should have been diagnosed so early. They are so young, symptoms can shift, whats important is that he has help to learn the tools to cope with his feelings.

if they thought he was BPD the private therapist perhaps might have referred him to camhs for robust support earlier. try to get a camhs referral and to persuade you son to undergo a transition assessment (you can ask for this via camhs) so he has some paperwork which will help him get support over 18 and sometimes camhs can extend therapeutic help a bit longer. It sounds like its a while since he had talking therapies, but if he can find the right person to talk to, this possibly alongside medication might be the best route at the moment. If you do take the camhs route, you may be able to access family support too. best of luck.

Thank you, he had been seen by CAHMS before we went privately but unfortunately their help was limited because they had no pschyciatrist at the time hence why we went through the private route.
But thank you for relaying your experience and as you say they are so young!
How is daughter doing now?