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Care Opinion

Referral for CBT due to dental phobia

Posted By Jax1958

"Referral for CBT due to dental phobia"

About: Bromley Healthcare / Talk together Bromley (IAPT)

(as a service user),

I was referred for CBT by my dentist at Beckenham Beacon because I have a dental phobia brought on by a traumatic event caused by poor and painful treatment by a dentist in the past.

The 1st communication I had from the team was in the form of a generic letter with a form to fill in and I was given a time when I would have a telephone interview.  This letter was sent out 3 weeks prior to the arranged call and had a form I had to fill in which included questions such as (please note that these are not verbatim):

- have you tried to harm yourself in the past

- are you thinking of harming your self

- are you suicidal

These questions horrified me for 2 reasons:

1. I was only being referred for CBT due to a dental phobia not for an illness such as manic depression (or similar)

2. If I had been on the brink due to manic depression (or similar) then I feel mentioning these things could have actually promoted these thoughts in my head

I subsequently had the phone interview in which I explained that this was for CBT due to a dental phobia but I still had to verbally confirm that I was not seeing to commit suicide etc before the therapist on the phone would even discuss anything with me

I know that the department want to keep costs to a minimum and not to add extra work, but I really feel strongly that cases such as mine should not be treated in the same manner as those who have a genuine mental illness and who need nurturing and counselling of a  very different type to what I need.  I also think that they should also be treated with kid gloves and ideas of suicide should not be referenced in a generic letter.

I have subsequently just received a letter from 'Talk together, Bromley' in which they have apologised for the delay in sorting out my treatment and yet again, they have said '.........if you are feeling worse and feel that you are at risk, then please contact the following:' and have provided details of people such as the Samaritans

I have decided not to proceed with this treatment as, based on what I have experienced so far (both written and over the phone) I feel I will not benefit in any way, shape or form from it as they seem determined to make me feel that I have something more  sinister than a phobia caused by an incompetent dentist who tried to extract a tooth without proper anaesthesia

You have asked for my opinion..........so here it is!!

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Responses

Response from Natalie Warman, Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality, Bromley Healthcare 6 years ago
Natalie Warman
Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality,
Bromley Healthcare

Submitted on 06/10/2017 at 10:27
Published on Care Opinion at 11:15

Dear Jax1958,

I'm sorry to hear that you have not had a positive experience in accessing our services that provide CBT, we would like the opportunity to talk to you further. This can be done by emailing bromh.complaints@nhs.net and we will be in contact with you. In the meantime I will discuss your feedback with the team.

kind regards

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Jax1958 (a service user)

Hi Natalie

I have nothing more to add and the fact that you have said that I " have not had a positive experience in accessing our services that provide CBT" shows that you have not read through my post properly. I have had no problem with 'accessing' the services.....my problem has been with the communications I have received from your team. My treatment was supposed to be for a phobia brought on by a trauma and is not a 'mental health' issue but it has been treated as such with constant references to 'if your feelings have changed, here's the number for the Samaritans' etc (please note that this is not verbatum of the communications I received but is a generalisation).

You really need to look at your comms procedures and realise that one communication does not fit all scenarios

Response from Natalie Warman, Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality, Bromley Healthcare 6 years ago
Natalie Warman
Director of Nursing, Therapies and Quality,
Bromley Healthcare

Submitted on 06/10/2017 at 16:16
Published on Care Opinion at 16:18

Dear Jax1958,

I apologise if you feel that my initial response did not fully reflect your concerns. I understand that the routine screening questions can for some people be very uncomfortable. I will discuss with the team on how they can improve the future personalisation of correspondence and communication.

Kind regards

Natalie

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Jax1958 (a service user)

Thanks....I am sure it meets the needs for some but not for me. I will not be continuing with the process for CBT

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