Help UK Query / out of area self referral, mental health services

[sufferingalways]

Hi forum people,

I remember someone from here saying that you can self refer to an area outside of where you live.
I forgot who said it, but can anyone elaborate on it please? Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Is it different for mental health compared to physical health?
I was under the impression you had to go through your GP on the NHS, but that you could do your research and request that they refer you to a particular specialist out of area. I'm not sure how willing they are to do that, but it should theoretically be possible.

 

[Xander_McG]

From what I understand when I was looking into it last week, you can refer yourself. I think I read that you just have to contact that areas NHS hospital and they should be able to help. All files and stuff are all shared between all the hospitals and areas anyway so it really shouldn't make much of a difference

 

[BipolarGuy]

Hi forum people,

I remember someone from here saying that you can self refer to an area outside of where you live.
I forgot who said it, but can anyone elaborate on it please? Thanks.

Who said it?
That would be me.

What happened is that I contacted my local clinical commissioning group in order to explore my options.
It is law (patient choice) that anybody can be served by any NHS trust they wish.
So somebody from Cornwall is legally allowed to demand a referral to a service in Scotland.

In practice, this is how it works (roughly):
Your care is funded by your local CCG, who pay the service that you receive treatment from.
So if someone from Cornwall were referred to a service in Scotland, the CCG in Cornwall would have to pay the services in Scotland for your treatment, and this is where it gets into political game playing.

See my other thread:

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/thre...-situation-with-mental-health-services.48272/

 

[sufferingalways]

Is it different for mental health compared to physical health?
I was under the impression you had to go through your GP on the NHS, but that you could do your research and request that they refer you to a particular specialist out of area. I'm not sure how willing they are to do that, but it should theoretically be possible.

Hi Underscore, good question. im not sure on that one. I would think that all NHS mental and physical health would operate similarly but .. alas we've seen from others' suffering despite urgent need, that's not been true.

Who said it?
That would be me.

What happened is that I contacted my local clinical commissioning group in order to explore my options.
It is law (patient choice) that anybody can be served by any NHS trust they wish.
So somebody from Cornwall is legally allowed to demand a referral to a service in Scotland.

In practice, this is how it works (roughly):
Your care is funded by your local CCG, who pay the service that you receive treatment from.
So if someone from Cornwall were referred to a service in Scotland, the CCG in Cornwall would have to pay the services in Scotland for your treatment, and this is where it gets into political game playing.

See my other thread:

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/thre...-situation-with-mental-health-services.48272/

Thank you Bipolar Guy.

 

[sufferingalways]

From what I understand when I was looking into it last week, you can refer yourself. I think I read that you just have to contact that areas NHS hospital and they should be able to help. All files and stuff are all shared between all the hospitals and areas anyway so it really shouldn't make much of a difference

Thank you, that helps a lot too. Sorry I didn't reply to you earlier.