referral request returned to GP by Community Paediatrician - Help! (ASD related)

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Hello

I have one child with a diagnosis 'HF' ASD and she is currently under the care of the community paediatrician and has additional support at school etc. However it is pretty clear to us and the school that our ds aged 11 is also HF asd and he gets additional support at school but needs an official diagnosis to ensure he continues to get that support ( in yr 9 he will go up to high school and will struggle with the transition without the right support and understanding) and ds wants the assessment.

We went to the GP in Nov '15 to request a referral and took a supporting statement from the SENCO at his school and a statement was written by me and ds and the GP said he would request a referral for a community pediatrician to see ds. I decided to chase this up with the Children's Centre today knowing that we have needed to for all of dds appointments.

The secretary informed me that the referral had been returned to the GP - but couldn't tell me why - it had been returned before Christmas but no one contacted us. Frustratingly the people I need to talk to at the GP are in a meeting so I cannot find out more ill after 2pm. Argh.

I am worried that the referral has been rejected. How common is that? Is there any questions I should be asking? I would really appreciate advice and experience of this situation. Thank you.

OP - make sure you ask for the Michael Rutter Centre - that's the part of the Maudsley that specifically diagnose autism. You might find if you aren't seeing them you'd need to be referred up to them from a different part of the Maudsley / I think anyway.

So glad you're being referred

I phoned the Michael Rutter centre and asked how to be referred to them and then told my Gp so I really hope they got it right!

Sounds like it, hope it works out

* Update *
After much back and forth, uncertainty and stress, and the making use of the complaints policy of our CCG and local trust. Today we received a response to our complaint stating that ds will have an assessment in a couple of months! I do think applying pressure was effective in pulling fingers out of arses and getting an interim solution sorted while the full service is being put in place. A real concern that ds would be kept waiting indefinitely has been lifted! will really believe it all when the actual appointment letters arrive mind!

Thank you to everyone as the sn board provided an invaluable source of information and I felt less isolated.

The assessment will be local as they wont fund a trip out of county now they are getting the local offer in place.

Hey thanks Polter I am planning on having tonight as it happens