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Refused access to a service

Posted By Thanks4nothing

"Refused access to a service"

About: Adult Mental Health Community / City South Local Mental Health Team (LMHT)

(as a service user),

My GP referred me to a local mental health team, following a consultation. The referral was rejected because the referral team felt there was no role for Mental Health secondary services at this time.

According to the NHS’s own website, secondary care includes mental health services - this is non-specific, and leads me to assume that secondary care includes all mental health services. If this is assumption is incorrect, surely the NHS website needs to be changed to describe which elements of mental health care are part of secondary care.

As I am experiencing a crisis in relation to my mental health, I do not understand why my referral was rejected and getting a letter stating this is demoralising, confusing and insensitive.

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Responses

Response from Joanne Halstead, Service Manager, City Local Mental Health Teams, (LMHT) East, Central, North and South., Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 2 years ago
Joanne Halstead
Service Manager, City Local Mental Health Teams, (LMHT) East, Central, North and South.,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Service Manager, Adult Mental Health City Community, Safeguarding Link Professional

Submitted on 30/03/2023 at 17:04
Published on Care Opinion on 31/03/2023 at 08:02

Thank you for taking the time to post your views. I am not able to answer your queries directly as do not know your name or details from the information in this post. We do not hold responsibility for the NHS website but secondary care is only a part of mental health service provision with other options now available in local communities via primary care.

If the decision we have made is not the correct one then your GP can make a re-referral if they feel this is needed. Alternatively, if you would like us to look into this decision and advise on a course of action you can call the South Team Manager Helen Taff on 0115 844 0525 In addition if you are in a crisis relating to your mental health you can call Nottingham Crisis Team on 0808 1963779.

Thank you for the feedback about the letter being copied to yourself. I am sorry that you found this unhelpful and dismissive – this was not our intention. We are encouraged to copy letters to patients and the letter template has been in use for some time. However we are able to review the wording of the letter generally and/or in your case specifically if you would like to get in touch to discuss this with us on the number above. I hope this will be of some assistance and am sorry once again for the experience you have described.

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