"Mental Health Access"

In late 2022 and in 2023 my mental health began to go downhill. My medication didn’t seem to be working anymore.

Initially, in November 2022, I requested an appointment with the doctor who had prescribed my medication originally. This doctor knew about my bipolar disorder and had recorded it in my file. The practice sent a text saying I would be notified when an appointment became available. I actually believed them, and therefore just waited to be notified.

In Dec 2022 I saw another doctor about a physical problem and they kindly arranged a mental health review for me. An appointment time in early January was sent and I arranged a day off work (unpaid) in order to attend. This appointment was cancelled in a text from the practice with 40 mins' notice. Very rude - I felt like something they'd scraped off their shoe. They sent another text with a new appointment a week later. I could not attend, as it would have meant losing another day of income and inconveniencing the same clients 2 weeks in a row. I cancelled the rescheduled appointment and did not ring to rearrange.

In March 2023 I phoned and requested an appointment with my original doctor. I didn’t say what it was for since I didn’t want to discuss my mental health with the telephonist. There was no acknowledgement of my request. I phoned again the following week, repeating my request and this time saying what it was for and answering questions. I told the telephonist what had happened in January, explaining that cancelling work costed me money, something I didn’t have a lot of. Again, no acknowledgement of appointment request from the practice.

I made another appointment request, this time online. I filled out the triage form. In doing so I revealed I was having suicidal thoughts, and that I was bipolar. I wrote on the form that I wanted to see my original doctor. I possibly expressed some mild annoyance that I’d asked to see them 5 months earlier and the practice still hadn’t notified me in regard to that. I probably should have left that off the form, but I was in a bad mental state at the time, depressed and also really agitated.

Again, there was no acknowledgement from the practice that I had requested an appointment. There was certainly no phone call, although I had asked for same day contact (I was essentially asking for an emergency mental health appointment). It is my belief that an administrator dismissed my request. I find it hard to believe that a trained medic would have chosen to ignore a person with bipolar disorder, or any person for that matter, who was having suicidal thoughts.

After some days I attempted to access mental health care privately. The online doctors of a pharmacy chain have a mental health department. I registered with them and arranged an online consultation. Soon after, a really lovely and helpful doctor phoned me and explained they couldn’t accept me because of my bipolar diagnosis. They wrote a letter to MyHealth, addressed to my doctor, asking for the practice to provide the care I needed as a person with bipolar disorder. I received a copy as well. It was only when I took this letter into the Stamford Bridge practice and showed the member of staff on reception that I finally got an appointment (with the mental health practitioner, not with a GP).

The mental health practitioner was patient and kind. They referred me to the Mental Health Services, explaining that they had no choice but to do so because I was engaging in risky behaviour. The practitioner isn't a prescriber. I didn't get medication until weeks later, and without being able to speak directly to the GP prescribing.

The whole referral process was out of the hands of MyHealth. Basically, I got stuck in a loop of referrals, being referred backwards and forwards, being interrogated by various different people dozens and dozens of times. And while I was being assessed. I was not being helped. A very poor use of NHS resources in my opinion.

Anyway, the whole business made me feel absolutely filthy. Even now I’ve got the stink of it on me. I hold MyHealth entirely responsible for the fact I had to endure all that. I hadn’t been suicidal the first, second, third or even the fourth time I requested an appointment. The key to managing bipolar disorder is timely intervention, and I should know, having been diagnosed with it over 30 years ago.

MyHealth must surely have realised they failed me. In fact, since this happened they’ve been generally nicer. For example, they give me appointments for my INR prick tests in the village where I live, instead of trying to get me into travelling to York for a venous blood test. They also offer me free flu shots.

I could have filed a complaint on their website, and perhaps should have done so a year ago. I don’t want to lay blame – I just want an explanation as to how I came to be ignored. And, most importantly, I want an apology.