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we all start in the stream
How's this for an example of the state of the NHS at the moment:
Back in September last year, I referred myself for counselling for my mental health. I also asked a doctor for a referral for a surgical procedure.
I was contacted by the mental health team a couple of weeks later, given an assessment, and told I could be waiting up to two months before someone contacted me to start the counselling.
I had a text from the hospital a little while later asking if I still required the surgery. Obviously, I said yes.
In December, I had a letter from the hospital saying my initial consultation would be in mid January. This is a lot sooner than I expected, given that my need is far from life-threatening, although it is something that affects my wellbeing.
Now we are in mid January, my consultation is in a couple of days, and all I have had from the counselling people is a couple of texts roughly six weeks apart saying, "We haven't forgotten you! You're still on the waiting list!"
Which sucks somewhat, considering they sent a letter to my GP saying I was a suicide risk!
(I absolutely am not, but I don't shy away from talking about feeling that way, and I had mentioned some stuff in the initial assessment that I know damn well they read as ideation when it isn't).
I know from past experience how shit the mental health services are, and they've got A LOT worse under the last government (as did all NHS services). So while I am annoyed, I am entirely unsurprised that I have not had the required mental health treatment yet. And I'm incandescent on behalf of people whose mental health is in a worse place than mine.
I am surprised by how quickly the surgical stuff has come around, though. I assumed I'd be on a waiting list for at least a year before I got an appointment.
I know I am lucky to live in a country where I don't have to pay for (most of) my health care. And I'm not really complaining, so much as pointing out the disparity between the two things I currently need.
~
Other than that, I've not got a lot else to say.
Work gave me an in-store voucher for turning up the other day when it snowed when no-one else did. No clue what I'll spend it on, but hopefully something nice will turn up :)
And I'm still chipping away slowly at P5 Tactica. I like it, and it feels for the most part, like a very "switch your brain off" game, which is weird considering its parent series, and considering it's a tactics game. But I'm enjoying it so far, and that's the main part.
Back in September last year, I referred myself for counselling for my mental health. I also asked a doctor for a referral for a surgical procedure.
I was contacted by the mental health team a couple of weeks later, given an assessment, and told I could be waiting up to two months before someone contacted me to start the counselling.
I had a text from the hospital a little while later asking if I still required the surgery. Obviously, I said yes.
In December, I had a letter from the hospital saying my initial consultation would be in mid January. This is a lot sooner than I expected, given that my need is far from life-threatening, although it is something that affects my wellbeing.
Now we are in mid January, my consultation is in a couple of days, and all I have had from the counselling people is a couple of texts roughly six weeks apart saying, "We haven't forgotten you! You're still on the waiting list!"
Which sucks somewhat, considering they sent a letter to my GP saying I was a suicide risk!
(I absolutely am not, but I don't shy away from talking about feeling that way, and I had mentioned some stuff in the initial assessment that I know damn well they read as ideation when it isn't).
I know from past experience how shit the mental health services are, and they've got A LOT worse under the last government (as did all NHS services). So while I am annoyed, I am entirely unsurprised that I have not had the required mental health treatment yet. And I'm incandescent on behalf of people whose mental health is in a worse place than mine.
I am surprised by how quickly the surgical stuff has come around, though. I assumed I'd be on a waiting list for at least a year before I got an appointment.
I know I am lucky to live in a country where I don't have to pay for (most of) my health care. And I'm not really complaining, so much as pointing out the disparity between the two things I currently need.
~
Other than that, I've not got a lot else to say.
Work gave me an in-store voucher for turning up the other day when it snowed when no-one else did. No clue what I'll spend it on, but hopefully something nice will turn up :)
And I'm still chipping away slowly at P5 Tactica. I like it, and it feels for the most part, like a very "switch your brain off" game, which is weird considering its parent series, and considering it's a tactics game. But I'm enjoying it so far, and that's the main part.
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