Hospital refusing dd's referral?

[HauntedNoddyCar]

Dd's been referred by our gp to the hospital for assessment for ASD. School have supported the referral and are treating her as if she definitely has Aspergers. Which is great.

We got a letter today from the hospital which I opened when I got home after school had finished for the year.

They are declining to see her and suggest that the School Nurse sees her and the School Nurse can re-refer her if required.

What?

I don't even know if there IS a school nurse and I can't bloody do anything for 6 weeks.

Can I ask the gp to challenge this? Can I challenge it? Why does the school nurse trump the gp AND Senco?

I knew this was going to be a long process but really?

(part vent part advice seeking :) )

Ds is at a private school. There's only admin staff there over the summer break. I'm not sure the school nurse is qualified to help with this either. She deals with bumps and cuts, we had a letter telling us to take our dc to the practice nurse at our GP's for their jabs, so I doubt she's qualified to do this.

In my area ASD is always considered alongside ADHD (with ADHD ruled out first). The SNAP and CAST questionnaires are completed by parents and the school. I had to get a private DX for DS1 as school reported no issues (now at Indi ss).

DS2 was an existing pt of salt when he started school and school staff reported issues and called in OT, EP etc. Referral to comm paed came from SALT. Classroom obs were also done by a specialist behavioural nurse. Ime the school can block diagnosis by blocking assessment.

Some schools lie or are blind - DS1's ct also completed a questionnaire for the APD clinic at gosh that claimed there were no issues. Objective audiology assessment showed he has APD. Despite reports over the past 3 years DS2 has moved from huge problems but no ASD to ASD but no problems in class. DS2 did not change or become able to access the curriculum but everything changed when I put in parental request for SA.

Ime the comm paed tends to ignore parental evidence if it doesn't fit with what the school say and what they observe. Sometimes parents minimise (DS2 is 'easy' in comparison to DS1) - in fact the consultant paed had to point out various behaviours that we largely took for granted. She was right - eg I thought he did joint attention but she tested him by saying his name and looking at an object and seeing if he would follow her gaze. He didn't know what she wanted and so was confused and anxious. I never knew he couldn't do this because I have adapted to his not being able to do it and then forgotten that I have adapted. But I was never believed to be minimising but exaggerating DS1's needs. Why would I do that?

Even though DS1 was refused assessment due to old school, the NHS have now accepted his diagnosis. It helps that the private dx came from Margo sharp and daphne keen, both of whom are senior in the NHS.

Really interesting reading this.

Just to update. The school nurse service rang today while I was at work but caught DH. Apparently they can't do anything before term starts again as the school need to ok it. I have her number to call back to talk to her properly.

Best of luck, Haunted

Thank you :)

Good luck. I can't get anywhere right now with getting my son assessed either.