"Lack of mental health care"

I have been on antidepressants continuously for 20 years. During lockdown earlier this year I felt incredibly depressed. My GP practice for months now has a notice on the website saying that it is not giving routine appointments now, but that if you feel you need urgent care (word 'urgent' underlined) a doctor will call you back. What is urgent? For someone with good mental health, there may not be an issue here. But, when you are in a very dark place, it is a barrier. I feel there is no indication of what to do if your problem is not 'urgent'.  I know there is a pandemic on. I also know that, since doctors' waiting rooms were invented, one could find oneself sitting beside a person with something contagious. That is the risk that both patients and GPs have taken forever. 

So, what do you do if you think your problem may not be 'urgent'? There was no information given on the website. No email address. A telephone number, sure, but that in itself is a hurdle when you are depressed. I have long believed that I have an autism spectrum disorder, Unfortunately, when I was young, Asperger's Syndrome was not tested for and, as an adult, I have almost certainly missed the boat. I did explore once getting a private assessment, but the cost was prohibitive. Anyway, making a phone call is not, for me, as simple as for someone with good mental health. Especially when I am depressed.

Why am I posting this today? I recently needed a letter from my GP about my health, so I typed up a request and posted it through the surgery door. I then received a phone message to say the letter was ready. In the closing paragraph of the letter, that stated they have had no contact with me since Nov 2019 & although they obviously have only been offering non urgent appointment during lockdown but have offered telephone appointments on all working days.

Seriously? It is simply not true to say they have had no contact with me. During the summer, I wrote a note via the repeat prescription service (I couldn't think of any other way I could communicate with them) and, in the letter I posted through the door, I explained the difficulties I was having. I feel this has simply been ignored.

With regard to the summer incident, I was very, very low. In September 2019 I came desperately close to a serious suicide attempt and, during this past summer, I was right back to how I felt then. It does not appear anywhere on their website the phrase offering telephone appointments on all working days. It sounds welcoming and, anyone who read it would probably think there is no reason why I could not have had an appointment. However, it does not appear anywhere on their website, as I explained above. The wording on the website offers no encouragement to anyone, like myself, who might have less than the usual amount of confidence or ability to access the service.