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Consistency and better communication

Posted By Mary86

"Consistency and better communication"

About: Donegal Mental Health Services / Child and Adolescent Mental Services

(as a service user),

My daughter has been attending CAMHS since December 2020. At first appointments were regular and it definitely helped her when she was at her lowest. They diagnosed her at having ADHD. There has been a change of doctors 4 times since 2021 meaning appointments were cancelled/postponed while the position was being refilled. The only constant was a social worker whom my daughter felt really helped her. But again appointments were cancelled and rescheduled and became more and more infrequent. My daughter really struggled attending school and as appointments weren’t happening she began to feel abandoned when she was most in need of help. She is 18 now and we just feel lost as what to do next. We have no official diagnosis other than verbal and are trying to figure out where to go from here 😢

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Responses

Response from Paul Crossan, Clinical Nurse Specialist, CAMHS North Team, Donegal Mental Health Services 8 months ago
Paul Crossan
Clinical Nurse Specialist, CAMHS North Team,
Donegal Mental Health Services

Submitted on 18/08/2023 at 10:23
Published on Care Opinion at 11:21

Dear Mary86,

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this feedback. We regret that this has been you your experience of CAMHS. With regard to appointments that monitor/treat young people diagnosed with ADHD, it is true that often clients will be reviewed by medical practitioners, who due to their training scheme are rotated between services every 6 months (which is the case nationally, not only locally). We acknowledge that this lack of consistency can be extremely frustrating for service users. Recognising this, the service has recently introduced an ADHD Clinic which will specifically review, assess and treat the needs of young people with this diagnosis.

I am concerned that you mention that your daughter has felt abandoned, and that now she has turned 18 you are struggling about what to do next. There are 3 separate teams in Donegal CAMHS, and unfortunately you have not indicated which team your daughter has attended? I urge you to contact the team/service she attended so that we can assist you in ensuring that you daughter gets the services that she needs. We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards.

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