What do I take to my first meeting?
Thank you for taking some time and prepare yourself for the first meeting. Such preparations will help us to conclude it with more specific plans and a quicker way of addressing your concerns.
Starting the meeting with a good (informative) referral letter (not always possible) and some collateral information is always beneficial.
We will send you a link to upload collateral information such as:
- medical correspondence and specialist reports
- psychological and educational report
- school reports dating back to primary school (if available)
- relevant investigations (i.e. blood test, ECG, etc.)
If you have not received the link or had a problem uploading this information, please bring it to the session. We will scan it into your electronic medical records (confidential). We will keep it in one location, and you will have access to this information in the future, along with other clinical information.
Should someone come with me?
Meeting a new team member (a stranger) could be unsettling. Please bring them along if you would like to feel more comfortable with another person at your appointment.
Adult family members or legal guardians should accompany all our young patients (under 18). We could not progress with our session without their explicit consent. In most situations, they will not be in the room with the patient but will most likely be seen afterwards.
We will respect all participants' confidentiality unless urgent matters need to be addressed under the clinical "duty of immediate care".
Time
Your first consultation will take 45 - 60 minutes.
Please allow extra time when planning your parking to ensure you aren't rushing and can find a carpark on the streets surrounding our clinic.
Due to the unpredictability of clinical work and many unexpected but critical phone calls and inquiries, there could be delays on our part. We will endeavour to inform you about such delays before you come to the office and apologise if they happen.
Making a diagnosis
Much information will be discussed during this appointment to ensure we understand your situation and make a clinical assessment of your concerns. If your history is more complex, a second appointment may be necessary before completing the assessment.
The need for follow-up
After your first session, we will discuss our future involvement. Formulating a clinical plan and defining the best steps to address all the issues leading to our meeting (reasons for the referral) and raised during our consultation is essential.
Further investigations may be needed to assist with formulating our clinical plan and reflect on the potential reasons for your symptoms. We may conduct more structured assessments (i.e. questionnaires), neuropsychological reviews, blood tests (if you are ok with it), urine drug screen (only if required by the relevant regulations, i.e. ADHD), radiological investigations (scans and pictures) and/ or cardiology testing (such as frequently performed ECG - electrophysiological test - a simple way of measuring electric heart activity - no needles!).
All these recommendations will be discussed, but ultimately it will be our joint decision on how we will proceed. You are in charge!
After
Following your assessment, we will inform your referring GP about our session and share our plan. Your GP will be updated about your progress throughout treatment.,
If you require ongoing follow-up, your appointments will usually last 30 minutes. However, in some cases, a longer or shorter (15-minute) appointment may be required.
Some patients require infrequent appointments every 6-12 months, whereas others may need more frequent support.
We will discuss your specific needs, preferences and expectations.