independent psychiatric assessments

[james05]

Hello everyone

my first post

can anyone tell me how or where i can find a psychiatrists in my area ( Manchester) as i need an Independent assessment report concerning my fathers capacity to handle his financial affairs.

thank you in advance for any help, i've tried his GP but he tells me he is not qualified to carry the assessment out and I've searched the Net but cannot find anything.

[lin1]

Hello James
Welcome to TP
If your father is under a consultant Psych I would ask him/her
also the gp should be able to refer you to one

If its to do with your father creating a LPA (lasting power of attorney) ie understanding what he is donating then you do not have to have a professional to be a certificate provider
Though I would say if their could be a possibility of doubt as to dads capacity a professional psychiatrist experienced in dementia is best

others will be along later with more advise

[Norfolkgirl]

Hello James, I am doing the very similar thing right now. I went to my GP to ask for an assessment for my mother. He referred my mother to a memory clinic. I managed to find out the name of the psychiatrist. He asked me what it was for and I told him that my mother is being financially abused but not giving consent to investigations and I was told by a solicitor that she may not have mental capacity. Psychiatrist told me that he can only do NHS mental capacity tests in relation to medical treatment but not for what I want unless I go through a solicitor to write a letter to psychiatrist asking what is needed from the assessment and he will do it that way. Makes sense if you think about it cos NHS resources are limited therefore to use mental capacity assessment services for medical purposes is the only way they'll do it.

In the meantime, I also found out that NHS Foundation Trust mental health referrals have recently been changed so that all referrals are made through a Single Point of Access. Your GP's surgery should know about this and be aware of the new ways in your area to refer a patient by phone, by fax and by post. My GP was unaware of this as it was so new but I went to the local memory clinic and they gave me the information. I then wrote a letter to my GP listing all of the relevant details for him (I did all the legwork) and that is how I managed, through a long winded way, to find out the psychiatrist's details.

Hope this helps, let me know how you get on. I have instructed my solicitor to write a letter to psychiatrist and am waiting to hear.......

[james05]

thank you Norfolkgirl i didn't know about the Single Point of Access, and thank you lin1.

I'm in a similar situation to you, but alot further down the line, the court of protection has given me 3wks to find a independent psychiatrist who will carry out an assessment , which is my problem finding one in such a short time period.

[NeverGiveUp]

What/who is the Single Point of Access?

[Norfolkgirl]

James, have you tried a local solicitor. They can have contacts to use psychiatrists for their own purposes in mental assessments (I just found this out today as the psychiatrist I recommended to my solicitor happens to be the one they already use).

Single Point of Access I think you can find out from your local area NHS. Try googling it because different areas have different phone numbers. Let me know your area and I'll see if I can find out myself which numbers you need.

[FifiMo]

James

There is a list of psychiatrists in manchester on the following link:

http://www.doctoralia.co.uk/consulta...ester-108927-1

Can I just say that when I was dealing with the court of protection I needed 2 psychiatric reports to confirm that my mother no longer had the capacity to manage her own affairs. The first I got from her consultant at the memory clinic/hospital and he then got the other one for me from a colleague of his.

Hope this helps,

Fiona