I should add, I think the root of the problem with the gender stuff is because they're trying to run a central service (London handles much of the country's work) as if it were a local service, and the way the disconnect gets managed ends up being rather Byzantine.
If a GP could just refer someone to the specialists in London, a lot of the problems might be cut, but as it is a GP can't make that referral - it has to come from local MH services, who quite often haven't got a clue what they're actually doing, and then the PCT have to agree funding. My view is that a lot of this stuff is just pointless obfuscation, and not only would the system work better if the middlemen (local MH services - do you *really* need a consultant psychiatrist to write a letter saying, "this person says they're transsexual, will you have a look at them please?" and the PCT) were removed from the equation, it would probably cost less too.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-08-12 11:56 pm (UTC)If a GP could just refer someone to the specialists in London, a lot of the problems might be cut, but as it is a GP can't make that referral - it has to come from local MH services, who quite often haven't got a clue what they're actually doing, and then the PCT have to agree funding. My view is that a lot of this stuff is just pointless obfuscation, and not only would the system work better if the middlemen (local MH services - do you *really* need a consultant psychiatrist to write a letter saying, "this person says they're transsexual, will you have a look at them please?" and the PCT) were removed from the equation, it would probably cost less too.