Ending shared care for adhd

[PutYourBackIntoit]

Our adhd clinic has been fantastic at diagnosing, and working with dd to get her meds right. She's been on meds that work well for her, and we have been under shared care with gp for about a year now.

I naively thought that once shared care was accepted, that we wouldn't need to pay for the specialist clinic any longer. The clinic are now asking for £375 for the year, with the risk being that the gp will not prescribe her meds any longer if we don't.
We just can't afford it right now 😪

Has anyone been in a similar position? I'm wondering how high the risk is that the gp won't prescribe?
Dd has been referrerd to the Paediatrician, but is way down the list.

Can’t you ask the GP their stance on this?

We will of course try, but we have until Wednesday to pay the clinic or be removed from shared care, and so we have not a huge amount of time to seek GP advice given the BH.

Anyone been in this situation (even if it's coming away from shared care for other meds)?

due to prescribing guidelines, GP’s should lay continue prescribing ADHD meds hen the patient is having a minimum of annual Reviews with a specialist I.e sharing care.

The problem is the care for ADHD HAS to be overseen by a psychiatrist for shared care with a GP. You have to book in once a year with a psychiatrist to review you so the GP can continue shared care as they aren’t allowed to lead on it.

no psychiatrist review, no shared care. That’s exactly how it works unfortunately. But honestly with how horrendous NHS waiting lists are, I’d try and find the money for the private review once a year.

if you leave the private care, you’ll have to wait to see a NHS psychiatrist and that wait could be god knows how long

Thank you for explaining @MabelMoo23 we will dip into our savings then. It just feels £375 to have an annual phone call and submit obs 4 times a year is really bad value for money, but I can't risk her meds being withdrawn.

I agree GP can’t prescribe Ritalin etc without a specialist recommendation, but I don’t necessarily think it needs to be a psychiatrist. My DS has his meds prescribed by a pediatrician and we see him every 6 months. GP wouldn’t even prescribe metformin until
a grown-up told her to - totally ridiculous system.

Do pay the clinic though - NHS alone for any help with ND conditions is a sack of shite, speaking from bitter experience.

@Deguster I agree, as the clinic the GP have been prescribing through is a specialist adhd nurse team, although I think headed by a psychologist.

Before we paid for the initial diagnosis, we begged our GP for Melatonin over a 8 year period. It makes me really sngry for our young dd who suffered so much that we hit hurdles along the way with such little real help. Routines, parenting courses, Early 'help', but you have to go through those things to show willing.

Melatonin is the stuff that has changed our lives. The stimulant meds help her at school, but the Melatonin is what enables her to function generally.

Exactly our experience @PutYourBackIntoit - I had to buy Melatonin gummies because the GP wouldn’t prescribe until we’d seen the pediatrician (who wasn’t seeing anyone due to Covid). It’s a bonkers was to “help” ND children.