Delyth Report post Posted October 29, 2007 Hello All My partner (45yrs) was diagnosed AS a year ago and he is still waiting for funding for counselling support. Our local PCT (Tower Hamlets) is not sure which department should be funding it as they haven't experienced this situation before(!) so the referral is being sent from dept to dept. I wondered if there are any adults here who have, or have had, any counselling support funded through NHS and if so, which department of their PCT funds it eg. Mental Health, or Learning Disability Team...or.......any other dept? I can then inform my PCT of the process being used in other local authorities in UK as a guideline for them - no names of individuals of course. Thanks for your help Delyth Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted October 29, 2007 I just got a pat on the head and told to #### off and get on with it. It is different in different areas, but if you can get the Learning Disability side to provide support, it normally tends to be much more helpful than that provided by Mental Health. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted October 29, 2007 http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandsta...dance/DH_065242 is interesting. Your local PALS service may be able to help you. www.pals.nhs.uk/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted October 30, 2007 I just got a pat on the head and told to #### off and get on with it. It is different in different areas, but if you can get the Learning Disability side to provide support, it normally tends to be much more helpful than that provided by Mental Health. I thought I would just drop a hint that although this is normally the case -in this case there may be an exception.I have not had contact with adult part of the trust but Camhs is excellent.Karen. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted October 30, 2007 Hi.It is worthwhile phoning PALS as they may well be able to help.I think you will be able to find the number on the PCT website.Karen. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NikkiSmith Report post Posted October 30, 2007 My other half took his private diagnosis letter to the GP, who was really enthusiastic about getting him some help..... We both thought this was gonna be great, but all that happened was he got an appointment with the psychologist once every 4 weeks (and even then she asked to see me for one session instead to find out what he was like really!) and after 2 sessions with him, she said that he was more than she could deal with and that was that! It really is a joke. Good luck! Nikki Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Delyth Report post Posted October 31, 2007 Thanks for your replies I will contact PALS and see what they say. I tried their online resource but it wasn't working. Will try again soon. We have heard recently that our referral is waiting for the commissioning officer in Learning Disabilities to confirm that services are not available in our borough and then we can get funding through Exceptional Treatment request for the service that is available in a different area. Bureaucracy at it's finest! Will let you now the outcome.... but it might be a while I suspect. Once again - many thanks Delyth Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted October 31, 2007 Hi Delyth I wondered if you could clarify something for me as I am interested. Does the reply that you recieved imply that it is considered that there is currently no provision for counselling for adults with AS in your Borough ? Have you been able to locate a service that is avaiable in another area ? Thanks Karen. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Delyth Report post Posted October 31, 2007 Hi Karen It's complicated - and I have nothing in writing - but we have had one discussion with the Learning Disabilities team and it seems that they are unclear about who they can actually provide help for. They definitely do support AS adults (it might just be one currently) with severe learning difficulties ie. employment and independent living support needs. Quite what the measure of severity of needs is though, is very unclear. There is no clear statement that indicates a cut off for support entitlement. My partner has full employment and can live independently so isn't a priority as far as the LD team are concerned. It also seems that there are no counsellors with AS qualifications for adults in the borough and my partner needs this. It seems that my partner is the first adult to be diagnosed with AS as an adult within our GP catchment and possibly within this borough so they are fairly new to it all I guess. I do get the feeling that they are trying to help us but have no procedure to follow. Time will tell. That's the best I can answer at the moment - it's all very woolly here! Difficult to get any direct answers. Oh for some clarity!! We have located the Hoffmann Foundation that can offer my partner/us support and will take a referral from the NHS providing they get written confirmation of funding. So we are chasing our PCT for this confirmation. We have no experience of the Hoffmann foundation as an organisation, nor recommendations, but they seem ok - have all the right credentials anyway. Have a look: http://www.hoffmannfoundation.org.uk/ Best Wishes Delyth Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canopus Report post Posted October 31, 2007 Something I'm interested in knowing is whether the NHS considers AS as traditional or complementary medicine. There has been some fuss recently about whether the NHS should spend money on complementary medicine, but I suspect that the argument of traditional vs complementary really should be translated as established practices vs new developments. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted October 31, 2007 Hi Karen It's complicated - and I have nothing in writing - but we have had one discussion with the Learning Disabilities team and it seems that they are unclear about who they can actually provide help for. They definitely do support AS adults (it might just be one currently) with severe learning difficulties ie. employment and independent living support needs. Quite what the measure of severity of needs is though, is very unclear. There is no clear statement that indicates a cut off for support entitlement. My partner has full employment and can live independently so isn't a priority as far as the LD team are concerned. It also seems that there are no counsellors with AS qualifications for adults in the borough and my partner needs this. It seems that my partner is the first adult to be diagnosed with AS as an adult within our GP catchment and possibly within this borough so they are fairly new to it all I guess. I do get the feeling that they are trying to help us but have no procedure to follow. Time will tell. That's the best I can answer at the moment - it's all very woolly here! Difficult to get any direct answers. Oh for some clarity!! We have located the Hoffmann Foundation that can offer my partner/us support and will take a referral from the NHS providing they get written confirmation of funding. So we are chasing our PCT for this confirmation. We have no experience of the Hoffmann foundation as an organisation, nor recommendations, but they seem ok - have all the right credentials anyway. Have a look: http://www.hoffmannfoundation.org.uk/ Best Wishes Delyth Thanks for the information it is very interesting.Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
