Follow-Up Appointments
I will write a medical report detailing my assessment to the referring Doctor or Clinician.
If the patient needs ongoing talking therapy, I may refer on to a Clinical Psychologist, or a Psychotherapist. However, in some cases it may be that I am the best person handle the care, particularly those relating to addictions or personality issues where a specific psychological approach is required, (such as Solution-Focused Therapy or Motivational Interviewing) as I have much experience and training in those approaches. In such scenarios, I will offer follow up sessions for your child.
Medication may be part of a holistic treatment plan, in which case I can prescribe directly, or in conjunction with an NHS or private GP. In cases where the GP continues my prescribing recommendations, I will require regular ongoing specialist reviews.
A first appointment lasts about 1.5 to 2 hours in terms of face-to-face contact with me. Follow-up appointments are much shorter, either half an hour, or an hour. Sometimes I need to see only the parents rather than the child in a follow-up, and sometimes I need to see the children rather than the parents!
Recommendation
Most of the treatments that I recommend can be carried out on an outpatient basis. On very rare occasions, I may consider that it is in the patient’s urgent best interest to arrange an inpatient admission to hospital. I cannot and would not wish to do this without full parental consent and in conjunction with a wider medical network such as the family GP.