"In general, the care they offer is basic"

For years there has been a chronic shortage of psychiatrists in NHS Tayside. I feel this is fed by a vicious cycle of using locums which impacts the budget, leads to poor patient outcomes, and makes it harder to retain staff due to the inequity in pay.

I have not been seen by the a psychiatrist for almost a year now. I was given an appointment with a pharmacist instead (this was not the right person to see me). The pharmacist agreed various changes to my medication which were never implemented. I called to query it, and nobody called me back.

They haven’t responded to contact from my GP. I even got practitioner health to speak with them, and they assured the doctor I would be seen. That was months ago.

Over the past 10 years I have had some excellent care from the service, but it has been person dependent rather than from the service as a whole. In general, the care they offer is basic and far below what anyone needs to actually recover.

Despite having daily intrusive thoughts and being impacted by severe anxiety, I haven’t had so much as a phone call from them. I have even made a complaint via NHS Tayside and all that has happened is it has been passed to the very people who have ignored me, for them to investigate their own practice.