I think a lot of NHS practices refuse to accept private GP prescriptions. Make sure yours does before you pay £1000s for a private assessment.
Paramol is like rocking horse shit too at the minute.
Yes an increasing amount are refusing to accept shared care for ADHD medications, following a private diagnosis.
Many as a direct result of that incredibly biased, harmful, and sensationalist Panorma documentary last year, which basically said that the whole condition is a con, and that private prescriptions are worthless and can easily be faked provided the customer pays. I fucking hate that episode, and that Irish 'hipster' type guy with the stupid awful blue fisherman's beany hat and stripey shirt that surely only a clown would wear, who lied his way through several private consulatations and tricked the psychiatrists into giving him diagnosese.
An undercover journalist for Panorama is diagnosed and given drugs without proper checks.
www.bbc.com
There may have beeen a little of that going on, in a small number of practices, but that episode caused tremendous harm by tarring every private practice with the same brush.
Many local GP practices have decideded either at the local trust level, or some on an individual practice level, that they will no longer accept shared care following a private diagnosis, as a direct result of that program. I have been shocked to read on ADHD forums many individual cases of individual Drs mentioning that episode as an explanation for their refusal to accept shared care.
It has had the direct result of making diagnosese and medications harder for people to obtain. The burden of proof on patients is very high in many cases, and is becoming higher. Sometimes impossibly so. Contrary to what that Panorama episode said very few people actually fake ADHD symptoms to get the meds, these aren't the sort of meds you can abuse and get high on. People need them to to function.
Fortunately in my case I did check with my surgery before I went private that they do accept shared care, but with the amount of time it's taking for the stock situation to improve, I just have to hope this policy lasts.
In the meantime I have boycotted the BBC and refuse to pay their TV licence any more. That wasn't the first incredibly biased and one sided panorama (and other current affairs reports) that they have produced by any means.
Other ones that stick in my mind, are the "cannabis causes scizophrenia" episode which was also incredibly one sided and ubalanced. Also the "Jeremey Corbyn is evil, racist, and useless' episode. I can't support an organisation that presents documentaries as being hard hitting and balanced, when they are anything but.
In any case the only things in general that I ever watched on the BBC were their natural world documentaries, and any snooker matches or finals if Ronnie O'Sullivan was one of his streaks of genius level form. I can do without a few hours of that every year for £170 or w/e the licence fee is now.
They went after an easy and relatively defenseless target attacking the ADHD population. One who without access to the medications they need to function well, are among one of the groups of the population most likely to struggle to organise themselves as individuals or a group to take any action.
The episode only received a very small number of official complaints, and considering what went down and what has happened as a result, that was a complete travesty.
