Important to Consider
As a private mental health practice, there will times where we will feel that we are not the service best suited to meet your/your child’s clinical needs. Once we have reviewed your referral form, if we feel that we are not able to meet your clinical needs safely and effectively we will advise you of this. We will also try, where possible, to signpost you to a service that we feel may be more appropriate.
Additionally, as a private practice, we are not able to offer emergency appointments or provide care where we feel there is a high level of clinical risk, this may include risk to self and/or risk to others. Some examples of difficulties we may not be able to offer ongoing support for include significant/severe self-harm, recent/current attempted suicide, active psychosis, severe eating disorders, severe alcohol/drug use and significant violence and aggression towards others.
It is also important to be aware that clinical risk is assessed on an ongoing basis throughout the therapeutic journey. Therefore, should we feel at any stage that we are no longer the best service to provide support to you, we will discuss this with you directly and try to direct you to the most appropriate form of support outwith the practice. We risk assess each referral to consider the factors mentioned above to ensure that we provide safe and effective care and to ensure that we are providing services aligned with our duty of care.
Waiting Lists
If you are added to a waiting list at The Edinburgh Practice we will try to provide you with information on an estimated waiting time where possible. We would like to let you know that these time scales are always approximate waiting times and not a guaranteed date for when we will be able to offer you an appointment. We wish it was possible to offer an exact date but due to the nature of the services we offer, waiting times can vary. This may mean that you are provided with an appointment date sooner or later than the approximate waiting time.
What Happens Next?
Once you have submitted your referral form, you will receive a confirmation email from the administration team that your form has been received and passed onto the Clinical Lead for review. You may not hear from us for a little while during this process, but please do not worry as your form undergoes 3 stages before you hear from us:
Stage 1:
Once we have received your referral, the team will then encrypt the file and pass this onto the Clinical Lead for review. Once your referral has been reviewed, the Clinical Lead will ask the administration team to forward your referral to the clinician the Clinical Lead feels would be best suited to meet your/your child’s needs.On occasions, we will feel that we are not the service best placed to meet your/your child’s needs. We will always inform you of this and try to outline where we feel you would be best suited to explore support outwith the practice.
Stage 2:
Once the team have sent your referral to the allocated clinician, the team must wait until we receive a response from the clinician. As our consultants work on a part time and self-employed basis, there can occasionally be a short delay at this stage of the process. The clinician will then update the Clinical Lead as to whether they are able to accept the referral, and whether they are able to offer an appointment straight away or add your referral to their waiting list.
Stage 3:
As soon as we have received a response from the allocated clinician, the team will reach out to you directly to offer a time and date for the initial appointment. Alternatively, if your referral has been added to a waiting list, we will reach out to update you of this. We do our best to respond to referrals within 1-2 weeks of receiving your form, therefore if you have not heard from us after 2 weeks, please feel free to drop us an email and the administration team will look into this for you.
