"Community Paediatrics Appointment"

Waited nearly a year for this appointment because the admin team for community paeds had misdirected the referral. Ended up having to be the liaison between GP, Health Visitor and the hospital and involve the service manager to get to the root of the problem.

Hospital letter is confusing, on one side tells you to arrive 10 mins early, on the other side tells you to only arrive on time. It made no odds in the end because the clinician we were seeing strolled in 20 minutes late and when they did call us through she made no apology at all.

In order to get an appointment you have to return reams and reams of paperwork outlining the history of your child. The clinician did not have this paperwork during the consultation, in fact they had a handful of history sheets and no other notes at all. Consequently we spent a lot of time repeating information we had provided in the preconsultation paperwork.

By the time we were seen unfortunately my sons patience had run out and he was disruptive throughout the consultation. The letter says there will be a nurse in the room alongside the Dr but there wasn’t and there is only 1 parent allowed due to COVID. So the next 90 minutes were spent attempting to entertain and control an unruly child (the whole reason we were referred) whilst answering a barrage of questions already asked and answered on paper.

At the end of the consultation we were given a vague indication of what the problem might be and a blood form. That was it, no leaflets, no information, no support networks, no signposting, no help. When I specifically asked for support I was directed to ask my health visitor about a parent seminar. I’ve since asked my health visitor for details and she isn’t aware of any seminar - why couldn’t we be given the details there and then?

We are not really clear on what the next steps are either, other than needing to see SALT (which we should have already done) and being written to in 3 months time about the blood results. I’ve no idea whether we are to have a follow up or when/if we will be given a diagnosis. I’m hoping we will get a letter confirming things but who knows whether we will or not.

There were two clear positives, the HCSW who were running the clinic. The one who took my son for weighing managed to build a rapport quickly with him and get him to cooperate with weighing and measuring. The two of them then expertly took his blood test at the end of the appointment, distracting him and working quickly out of his line of sight. He proudly displayed his sticker for the rest of the day.

Despite those positives, there is much to be improved in the clinic. The letters are contradictory, the clinician was late with no apology, our paperwork and notes were not available so we had to repeat everything, there was no support to distract my son during the consultation so we could give clear information, there was no support/information/signposting at the end of the consultation and the future plan is not clear.