"Outpatient Review"

I'm the carer of someone receiving psychiatric help with the Bradgate Unit as our main contact since 2008. During that time we have asked that our care plans and all correspondence be copied to us, yet have only ever received one care plan after continually filling in forms allowing that to happen. Our appointments were regularly not sent to us, and more than once we had to phone up only to find the appointment was a day away (at one point we called and found the appointment was literally about to start and had to run out of the house to the doctor's surgery where they were held). During a recent changeover of psychiatrists, we were lost in the shuffle for thirteen straight months without an appointment.

We've recently moved home (while my caree is in the middle of a meds changeover and currently lowering her current dose so she can move onto the new medication) and it took them two months to tell us that we didn't fall under their catchment area any more. They didn't bother to tell us that when we changed our address with them, only when I again phoned to find out why we hadnt had an appointment yet. On top of this a "backlog of correspondence" (presumably all those appointments of the past ten years that they didn't send out) means that they haven't yet informed the relevant authority in our new catchment area that we exist. Not have they updated my caree's medical records with the medication changeover details.

This has left us with no psychiatrist to complete the meds changeover, leaving my caree on a lower dose of her meds than she needs and unable to move onto new ones as the doctors won't do it without psychiatric backing.