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Monday 23 January 2012

CAMHS

This morning I was sat happily waiting for a phone call, sipping my morning coffee (3rd coffee of the day more like). The all important phone call I was waiting on was from a Triage nurse at my Dr's to check if my 3 years old son who has spent the past two nights in pain really needs an appointment. Why they do this I don't know I would not phone for an appointment if I really didn't need one, who would want to spend up to 1 hour in  a waiting room full of cougher's and sniffler's to waste a DR's time? Not me that's for sure!. 
Any plans I mentally made for today got thrown out the window after the phone jumped into action, the call was not from the Triage nurse, it was from CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service) they had called to tell me an appointment (they are like gold dust) had become available, and it was ours if we wanted it, I asked when it was for...not that it mattered, She responded with "Now" "we'll take it" was my response.
We had to get there within 1 hour, in that time I had to arrange a babysitter for my youngest 2(1st port of call my Mother in law aka super nan), Pack all the things the 2 little terrors need, Drop the youngest 2 off at super nan's, Ring back the Dr's to ask them to call my mother-in-laws house instead, collect miss Drama Queen from school which took ages because they couldn't find her!, The journey alone would take 29 minutes to pick up Miss Drama Queen, drop off the 2 terrors then get to the hospital......so what should they be doing right outside the hospital on the day that I don't need delays? Roadworks! they had turned a busy road into a temporary one way system causing mayhem!.  Trying to find a parking space at the hospital is an achievement in itself, we made it with about 2 minutes to spare. 
A lady greeted us at the door smiled, and said "don't worry everyone has been late today" did I look that bad? I must of had that rushed off the feet look. Once we signed ourselves in I was finally able to sit down and write down everything I wanted to get across to the CAMHS team. Once we was directed into the room the questions began, 60 minutes later we emerged from our little room clutching some questionnaires to fill out and return, that was it the first part of our journey to getting miss Drama Queen assessed was done!.
Waiting for an appointment for CAMHS can take anything up to 3 years in some areas, because they deal with many disorders such as Psychosis, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),Post Traumatic Stress Disorders just to name a few, so we are very very lucky that in all it took us 3 months. I will be following up on our journey to getting miss Drama Queen diagnosed or not as the case could be.
I have not revealed what was said during the meeting to protect my daughter but should you want to know more about the process I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

2 comments:

  1. My son under camhs so I understand the questions they ask, well done and good luck xx

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    1. Its my 2nd time of going through camhs my son has come out the other end with ADHD diagnosis, this time was slightly different to when he was assessed. My daughter was asked a lot of questions this time.

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