fixitinpost
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
- Oct 20, 2020
- 161
A while back I posted about being on an approx. 1.5 year long waiting list for a psychologist through the public health system. Meanwhile I've been searching for help elsewhere, and haven't had much luck with private clinics yet. Since the thing I need to fix first is my ability to cope at work, I began looking for occupational therapists that deal with stress management. I found one in the public system that actually could give me help pretty fast (let's call it Clinic B, and the waiting list one Clinic A).
After mentioning this to my psychiatrist at Clinic A, I learned that I'm not allowed to attend Clinic B (or any other part of the public health system) if I'm to receive any help at all from Clinic A. Even though Clinic A don't have occupational therapists on staff, Clinic B don't have psychologists or psychiatrists on staff, and there waiting list is long. So my plan to deal with the immediate work problem now, and leave rest of the mess to next year when I'll hopefully have a psychologist, seemed impossible. Fortunately my psychiatrist is awesome and the plan became that she wasn't going to write down in their journal about Clinic B, and I'm not to tell anyone at Clinic A about Clinic B. Yeah, your read that right.
It's absurd. I think it would be fair that I would have to drop the contact with Clinic B once I actually start receiving psychotherapy from Clinic A. Were I still with them, I would probably do that willingly anyway. But their rules would have me either sit tight for years without treatment, or lose access to both my doctor and my only shot at therapy that won't ruin me in the long run without health insurance. Well, unless I move to another county at least (where I hear things are better).
And I wouldn't say be making this post if it was the first time. I've been passed back and forth between my GP and specialist care over disagreements about where I belong. And last year, when I was sectioned for two days, Clinic A took me off the waiting list because I apparently entered the ward system. Except the ward didn't deem it necessary to commit me, and they obviously don't provide help to those who aren't. And no one told me I was taken off the list until brought the topic up at a later appointment.
I realize that there's an element to this post that is a bit rich, since public health care is a luxury that far too few are afforded ("far too few" as in "less than everyone on this planet that needs it"), but honestly at this point I wish I had invested in private health insurance earlier and I'm still thinking about doing so. Sometimes I honestly can't believe I'm surrendering well past a third of my salary, in the hopes that everyone can get affordable help when they need it. And this is what we get. A system with badly designed rules, and a severe communications breakdown.
After mentioning this to my psychiatrist at Clinic A, I learned that I'm not allowed to attend Clinic B (or any other part of the public health system) if I'm to receive any help at all from Clinic A. Even though Clinic A don't have occupational therapists on staff, Clinic B don't have psychologists or psychiatrists on staff, and there waiting list is long. So my plan to deal with the immediate work problem now, and leave rest of the mess to next year when I'll hopefully have a psychologist, seemed impossible. Fortunately my psychiatrist is awesome and the plan became that she wasn't going to write down in their journal about Clinic B, and I'm not to tell anyone at Clinic A about Clinic B. Yeah, your read that right.
It's absurd. I think it would be fair that I would have to drop the contact with Clinic B once I actually start receiving psychotherapy from Clinic A. Were I still with them, I would probably do that willingly anyway. But their rules would have me either sit tight for years without treatment, or lose access to both my doctor and my only shot at therapy that won't ruin me in the long run without health insurance. Well, unless I move to another county at least (where I hear things are better).
And I wouldn't say be making this post if it was the first time. I've been passed back and forth between my GP and specialist care over disagreements about where I belong. And last year, when I was sectioned for two days, Clinic A took me off the waiting list because I apparently entered the ward system. Except the ward didn't deem it necessary to commit me, and they obviously don't provide help to those who aren't. And no one told me I was taken off the list until brought the topic up at a later appointment.
I realize that there's an element to this post that is a bit rich, since public health care is a luxury that far too few are afforded ("far too few" as in "less than everyone on this planet that needs it"), but honestly at this point I wish I had invested in private health insurance earlier and I'm still thinking about doing so. Sometimes I honestly can't believe I'm surrendering well past a third of my salary, in the hopes that everyone can get affordable help when they need it. And this is what we get. A system with badly designed rules, and a severe communications breakdown.
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