After nearly 12 years of Conservative misrule under David Cameron and his sidekick Nick Clegg, Theresa May and now Alex ‘Boris’ Johnson, I suppose we should not be surprised at the fragile state of the NHS. Indeed, those of us old enough to remember the damage Margaret Thatcher manage to inflict on it back in the 1980s were always expecting it. But today’s knock back really takes the biscuit.
My loyal reader, always assuming he hasn’t reached for the strychnine just yet, will have read enough of my endless pathetic whingeing about the strains and stresses of trying to get an assessment for ADHD, PTSD and Christ knows what else. Having spent recent weeks wallowing a pool of self-pity – that is to say deep under the shadow of the returning Black Dog – I decided to be decisive.
To deal with my current episode, my GP, who I really like, has suggested I refer myself to a private company that works ‘in partnership’ with the NHS and a charity that offers mental health treatment for – and let’s be honest about this – people who don’t have enough money to buy private health care. My GP can’t offer me any more drugs and unless I completely lose my marbles and become suicidal there is nothing else they can do. And although my marbles are in short supply, death is not the preferred option today. So, I’ve self-referred to a private company to see if they can do anything for me, but if they want to charge me, there’s absolutely fuck all they can do for me.
If this is progress – and in a very small way, it is – the ADHD referral is the kick to the bollocks to end all sperm production, had I not already had ‘The Snip’ many years ago.
It took nearly two years to get on the NHS ADHD waiting list but I finally got on it in April 2021. When I was accepted for assessment, I was made aware that the referral to treatment target (RTT) was 18 weeks but that because of Covid-19, this target was unachievable. My GP advised me to telephone the ADHD service to get an update but the recorded message said they were basically too busy to answer the phone so I should email instead, which I did, immediately. In just over an hour, I received a reply, which looked suspiciously like a generic letter with ‘Hi Rick’ added to it. This is the bit that really matters:
‘Due to the service pressure the ADHD service is currently experiencing due to ongoing high referral levels and inadequate staffing levels, the estimated waiting time for patients in the BNSSG (Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire) area is around 3.5 – 4 years. This has increased recently due to service being closed for a large portion of the last year due to the COVID crisis. There are also similar wait times for those that live in BSW (BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire.’
In other words, if I am lucky and something doesn’t push me even further down the waiting list, the very earliest I might be seen is in October 2024. To say I am disappointed would be a major understatement. I’m devastated, I’m crushed, I feel like giving up and in terms of hope that is exactly what I am going to do.
I have put all my eggs in the basket of getting an ADHD assessment, something numerous therapists have been telling me to do for years, in the hope that there by an explanation for my fucked up life and whether it was a factor in my poor mental health since 1969. And now I face the possibility of being dead before I ever get the chance to find out.
Still, let’s get on with life. Snap out of it, stop moaning and complaining and be thankful for what I’ve got. Because mental health doesn’t matter, really, does it? Society has to tolerate those woke snowflakes who aren’t strong enough to get through life on their own. Political correctness gone mad.
When Labour leader Neil Kinnock told the country of what would happen to the country if Margaret Thatcher won a third term in power, he said, among other things, “I warn you not to fall ill”. The following decade proved how right he was and it took a Labour government to save and then rebuild the NHS to the extent that by the time they were defeated in 2010, there were virtually no NHS waiting lists at all. I’d add that you should avoid, under all circumstances, getting mentally ill, unless you’ve got loads of money. Most of us haven’t, but mental illness is just feeling sad, isn’t it? So just get on with it.
It’s the end of the the line and whatever will be, will be. And whatever will be, will be nothing.
