So let down by private clinic

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Dd15 is autistic and has ADHD and anxiety. She was under Camhs a few years ago but her diagnoses and treatment have been sorted privately. We’ve been so lucky to be able to do this for her and I know not everyone is as fortunate.

since her ADHD and anxiety diagnoses in late summer we have been trying meds - fluoxetine (prozac) for anxiety and Concerta to help concentration. The clinic posts the prescription but they keep getting the address wrong. Last time it was returned to the clinic by the post office and I was able to go in and collect it and I was assured this wouldn’t happen again.

I wrote to the clinic on 8 dec letting them know we were low on fluoxetine. Some days later they said it was posted but nothing arrived, they rarely answer the phone or respond to emails, it’s just really an office in central London so you can’t even just pop in as you don’t know anyone will be on site. Eventually it emerged that the psychiatrist had sent it recorded delivery but again to the wrong address, it’s one the post office couldn’t decipher, just our flat but not our house number.

We were totally out of pills by this stage and they just sent a letter to the GP, very grudgingly the GP prescribed two weeks’ worth but we will run out on New Year’s Day and again the clinic will be largely closed over Christmas and I have had no notification that another prescription is coming.

I just feel so angry and let down. It’s dangerous just to stop fluoxetine, how can the clinic, where we have paid £££££, let us down like this and leave us like this over Christmas?

Don’t know what I am hoping to achieve with this post but just if anyone had any thoughts or words of comfort. Guess it could turn up after Xmas and all will be fine but I just have so little faith in them.

I don’t even know if we could go to another clinic as they would probably need an initial long consult again which would be ££££. The GP didn’t seem keen on shared care until she is at least 16 but this isn’t too far off I guess. Thanks for reading my angry rambling!

Can they not send it straight to a pharmacy like GPs do?

@Ormside they havent suggested that but I will ask if they ever respond to me

I'd definitely ask them to send it to your local pharmacy. It seems a bit mad to keep sending it to your home when they can't get the address right.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. If it helps (probably not!) I'm under the adult ADHD clinic for medication and every month I run out of meds for a week or ten days, despite me contacting them way ahead of time. They seem to be useless! Also have a similar problem with EIP and my meds from them.

Argh!!!!!!!

It really does help hearing other people’s experiences and I am so sorry others are experiencing similar.

I will ask about the pharmacy but I think they would have suggested it already if it was feasible, the clinic is really just some central London serviced offices that different consultants use so they probably dont have the relationship with pharmacists that NHS GPs have.

I don't know how long you have had the private prescription but our private psychiatrist wrote to the GP to ask for a shared agreement so that after the inital 3 months we could get the meds on GP script.
This obviously helped on cost but also much more efficient as we just get a repeat prescription every few weeks from the GP.

Thanks so much, the prescription actually turned up on 23rd Dec which was a huge relief but the ADHD meds (less important as she’s having a wee break for xmas hols but is doing GCSE mocks when she gets back so was going to take it a few days next week to help her revise) were the wrong dose!!!

the GP seemed pretty sniffy re shared care and seemed to think v unlikely until she was 16 but that is v soon and I will definitely try but we are still tweaking her dosage and the clinic doesnt even seem able to be across that despite ££££!