What is the Point of Choose and Book?

Ram was getting dizzy, not just when standing up, but when laughing hard. That is something that happens a lot in our family as Ram wants to be a stand up comic. He was also very tired all the time, and as this was beyond what we would expect from hypermobility syndrome, we decided to go to the GP.

This was to be the first time in 10 years for Ram! He just isn't ill very often, and when he is, he gets better very quickly. This could of course be because he has less stress on his body due to being in an environment that suits him. It was also the first time with this GP as our beloved GP who saw Ram into the world had retired.

It didn't start well, with Dr W implying that there was a problem that Ram hasn't seen anyone for 10 years, then he quickly corrected himself by saying that he was glad that he was really healthy! I then outlined what we were there for. But before I could really get going on that Dr W started talking about how Ram didn't have a formal diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. I pointed out that we didn't really see the need for one but he was insistent. I expressed surprise as the experience of most people at the moment is that they can't get a diagnosis at all, and some are even having them taken away from them.

He then moved onto the school question. Ram launched into how schools couldn't meet his needs and they couldn't cope with his meltdowns. I giggled a bit and stopped Ram, and suggested that he really should have started by explaining that he was home educated! Dr W laughed and said that yes, that was what he had been expecting, and was getting worried that Ram hadn't mentioned home education!

So I thought that maybe we were going to be ok with Dr W, but no, he then went on for the next 10 minutes saying things like we don't need to home educate anymore because schools are now so good, that with a diagnosis of Asperger's he would get more support and social contact, and would be able to do exams and so on. I countered that with examples of current social contact, how to do exams if you are home educated, and my experiences of others whose children were in school. He wasn't listening, so finally I had to pull rank: I explained that I moderated an email list for home educating parents, and was a former trustee of the largest home education charity in the country. He finally conceded that I knew more about home education than he did. But it shouldn't be this hard!

He finally agreed to blood tests to rule our various things such as anemia. We went back to discuss the results and he said the good news was they were all normal. He then started talking about getting a diagnosis of Asperger's again! I stopped him there, and explained that we were not ruling out getting a formal diagnosis one day, but at the moment we would like to find out what is affecting Ram, especially to rule out Marfan. Eventually we got him to agree to refer us to a paeditrician. But Asperger's kept popping up.

The Dxh and I decided to write a letter just to make sure that he understood that it was most urgent to rule out Marfan Syndrome. When Dr W rang back a week later to discuss the booking I though we had made a break through. We discussed things and he did a Choose and Book there and then. I got the letter though a couple weeks later. Then a week after that I got a second one saying that it was cancelled! No explanation!

So I rang, and it turned out that Dr A, the one that our GP had carefully chosen for us, had decided that he didn't want to see us and referred us to Dr B! Dr B's speciality is neurodisability. I started to get worried that Dr W had gone against his word and referred us for an ASD diagnosis after all! A week later I get another call from Dr C's secretary asking what school Ram went to. I explained but before she rang off I asked who Dr C was! It seems that we had been passed on again, so I stressed that we wanted to rule out Marfan, and needed someone in rheumatology, not neurodisability! So what is the point of Choose and Book if the consultants ignore the GP's choice?

It seems that Dr B specialises in epilepsy, but we will be seen by one of his team, Dr C. who doesn't seem to have a speciality at all, and certainly isn't listed as rheumatology.

So it looks like we will just have to wait and see. I just hope that we don't have to spend the first 75% of the appointment telling them all about home education!