"Disgusting Telephone Appointment"

Last week I received a “withheld” telephone call from Springwood receptionist who said I needed to make a telephone appointment with one of the Doctors due to a letter they received from a paediatrician. I was stunned my son is healthy, once in a blue moon sees a doctor and has never seen a paediatrician. So I asked what it was about and the receptionist talked over me about appointment times and then after agreeing with her a time, she then told me I would have to wait a week to speak to another doctor because she was on holiday.....yep that pointless conversation actually took place

So this morning I received the phone call from a doctor who wasn’t sure what it was all about and I said neither am I. But then suddenly he finds a letter they had been copied into from our son’s occupational therapist (not paediatrician) that said I had missed a session and if I didn’t contact them he would be discharged. I said that as my son is doing really well now winning sports trophies, awards and has now met the National Curriculum lvl for PE and so we were considering letting him be discharged. At this point the tone changed, the doctor suddenly turned on me and said in the eyes of the law that was child neglect and social services would be involved. My heart sank and I tried to again explain the situation again but the doctor talked over me and said it would be “a black mark on his record” and ordered me to ring them or this would happen.

I have never cried so much in my life. My husband rang the occupational therapist and they couldn’t quite believe what had happened but they have agreed to an appointment to look at “officially discharging” him, but I’m in pieces being told I’m neglecting my child. We got the referral to the occupational therapists through the school after we agreed to give it a try to support with my son’s hand writing and his performance in PE and Springwood has absolutely nothing to do with it or even asked to see him once, all they have been is copied in to letters. Im also considering taking it further, I understand duty of care but that phone conversation was very unprofessional. I would also like to point out the NSPCC guidelines on patterns of missed children’s appointments, one missed appointment is not considered child neglect