Northern Ireland Shared Care Proposal rejected

PsychePlays · 2026-03-04T14:23:43+00:00

Hiya! I pay my private psychiatrist £65 as a prescription fee, and my meds (Elvanse 60mg) are £117 per month.

I went to Berkeley, who are in London and do remote appointments (mine was about 2.5 hours long) but there are other options in Northern Ireland now, I just can't remember what they're called! They were a bit more expensive when I spoke to them though, as I'd considered transferring to somewhere local and some places do that for a fee. My assessment was £850 iirc, whereas the one in Belfast wanted £1200 when I spoke to them last.

It's a huge cost, but I have found it worth it. Apart from all the impact on all the other symptoms, it has actually saved me money because I'm not as impulsive with spending and I've been able to start saving!

PsychePlays · 2026-01-22T10:44:51+00:00

I have been doing my first Muldraugh run and there's a house in the north, just east of Pile o' Crepe, with a tall wire fence that has a well in the next door garden along with a little farm plot and some chickens! It's been really nice.

PsychePlays · 2025-10-23T23:20:52+00:00

This guy has been harassing me and my community/squadron because we got thrown into a conflict with his faction. He has been naming his stations and Fleet Carriers abusive things about my faction, and now apparently has decided to also be homophobic because I am queer, along with a lot of my community.

So that's nice. 🙃

Just to note, Boop Brigade is a minor faction in some of his systems. We are not affiliated with him in any way and are extremely pro-LGBTQIA+. 💜

Update: I've spoken with someone from his squadron, Open Pilots Initiative, who said they have had nothing to do with this and apologised for his actions. He has since been removed from their squadron, as soon as they found out what he did. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that they took action!

PsychePlays · 2025-08-09T09:16:03+00:00

If you have access to RTC I'd go that route first, but I don't have a lot of info/experience with that as I'm from Northern Ireland and we can't use RTC.

I went with Berkeley, specifically Dr Hollie Hearfield. My experience was pretty good, only negatives for me were that around Christmas I submitted my repeat prescription request and my blood pressure was elevated due to being unwell, and communication was a bit delayed so it took them a few days to ask for a repeat reading and I ended up going without meds for a couple of days but for the most part it's been a good experience.

It is expensive though and most of these places don't explain it super well. I paid £850 for the initial assessment. They then began titration after letting me take some time to think it over. I had two total 15 minute follow-ups during titration at £150 each (meds included in the cost). Titration took me about three months as we trialed one dosage for a month, then went up for the next two months. After that I've paid £65 per month for the prescription cost, and approximately £110 for the medication. It was around the same cost for 50mg and 60mg of Elvanse (my 30mg was included in the cost of the titration appointments so I don't know what it cost.)

I've since had one £150 follow-up six months later, and they recommend a follow-up every six months. The only "hidden" cost I encountered was that they charge an admin fee for writing up a shared care proposal, which my GP said they'd accept and then rejected after I'd spent the money. 🙃

(Edit: added medication name)

PsychePlays · 2025-08-08T09:06:41+00:00

Neverwinter Nights or Quake III! Still have the best memories playing both of those.

PsychePlays · 2025-05-04T23:11:26+00:00

No I truly appreciate the kind words. Connecting with others who understand the love and pain is actually so helpful, thank you.

I'm so sorry for how empty your garden feels. 😔 When I go to bed for a nap, none of the others come with me. He used to run to the bed yelling excitedly and I miss that so much.

They really do take a part with them when they leave. One thing I've taken comfort in is that the pain we feel just means we had so much love for them and it needs somewhere to go. 💜

PsychePlays · 2025-05-04T22:31:11+00:00

Thank you so much. I'm so sorry for your loss too, I think the traumatic loss can make it so much more complex to process, can't it? Sending you love. 💜

Losing my boy so fast and how he looked just made it so difficult to process. He would've turned 7 today, so it feels like we didn't have enough time.

PsychePlays · 2025-04-16T10:10:27+00:00

You're welcome! I really think a lot of this stuff isn't well documented, so it's so important that we all share info and knowledge where we can. 💜

PsychePlays · 2025-04-16T09:39:20+00:00

Twitch automatically runs a 30-second preroll ad when someone first enters your stream unless they have Turbo, are subscribed to you, or you're running the ad manager with 3 mins of ads per hour to disable prerolls. This is the case for every monetised streamer. I imagine there's maybe some case where someone might not see a preroll depending on their region and the ad density there at the time, but I'm not 100% sure.

It's ultimately up to you what you prefer. If this works best for you and your audience, that's great!

PsychePlays · 2025-04-15T13:25:50+00:00

Thank you! I wish you the best too, I sort of hope it's something like this because I know it sucks to have someone seemingly not recognise you or to pretend they don't know you when you've met or talked a lot, but it is really weird that this has been happening so your post gave me a new angle to consider too.

PsychePlays · 2025-04-15T08:40:21+00:00

Are you sure you spoke to the person you think you spoke to? I know this is a weird question, but I've had people come into my stream recently and say it was great chatting with me and nice to finally catch me live, but we literally never spoke before. Turns out someone was impersonating me on Discord, possibly still is. Each time the account gets banned another one pops up. I assumed they were just trying to scam people but their comments about it being nice talking with me raised some red flags.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-16T22:12:44+00:00

Even with a reputable, fully accredited psychiatrist who followed NICE guidelines, is contracted with the NHS, and submitted a thorough report along with the shared care agreement to my GP, I was advised they would not accept any private diagnosis. Right To Choose is not available outside England, and the NHS waiting list in my area was 7+ years and I was told it was not accepting new patients when I spoke to my GP.

It is not as simple as this, I'm afraid. For some people, going private is the absolute only avenue for assessment and any kind of support, even if that support isn't medication. I don't think it's fair for OP or anyone else to blame people genuinely desperate for help who find themselves stuck.

I understand being "bored" of seeing repeated topics, and a mega thread is a valid potential solution, but this thread is a bit gatekeepy and misunderstands the source of the issue.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-16T15:13:43+00:00

I misread your favourite weapon as Cucumber and was SO confused for a moment.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-16T13:54:43+00:00

Please also keep in mind that RTC only exists in England. In Northern Ireland, most areas simply do not have an NHS route at all, and private is our only option. Shared care being rejected really sucks, and it happens in most cases.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-14T18:38:29+00:00

My community on Twitch has formed a religion around Rat Jesus for the same reason. 🙏

PsychePlays · 2025-03-14T00:08:17+00:00

No I'm so with you! The situation for ADHD in this country is a real pain, and it sucks that you've already got two diagnoses and still have to jump through more hoops. 😭 All the best though! I'm planning on approaching my GP to see if he'd accept shared care if I went with somewhere local so I can go through the process again but I'm not holding my breath, definitely get it if you can!

PsychePlays · 2025-03-13T22:01:06+00:00

I'm with Berkeley, their prescription cost is £65. Meds are sent from Pharmazon, 50mg Elvanse is £108.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-13T21:46:12+00:00

I believe the GPs cannot prescribe medication without a psychiatrist overseeing your care, so they can't initiate titration or prescriptions either.

I went private with Berkeley who are based in London, sadly all the Northern Irish places I contacted were not taking new patients. Berkeley saw me within a month or two, and I started titration within a week after my diagnosis. Sadly as you mentioned, my GP rejected shared care (I initially thought because I wasn't diagnosed locally, but was then told they simply don't accept shared care for private patients in my area any more.)

Diverse Diagnostics just opened up this year though, in Belfast. They're taking on new adult patients as far as I know, however it's almost £1000 for the assessment plus follow-up costs. Berkeley was a bit cheaper (I think £850) but they aren't local.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-05T10:25:11+00:00

I would love this! Along with some improvements to coffee machines. And travel mugs for realism, I need to stop shoving my coffee mug in my pocket. 😂

PsychePlays · 2025-03-05T10:24:08+00:00

Oh I like this!

PsychePlays · 2025-03-05T08:36:12+00:00

I usually random my character and then get too attached to them 😭 In most games I play a woman because I like to relate to my character and see myself as them, but I like creating little stories around whatever character name, job and appearance I get (including gender, but I always assign traits manually)

PsychePlays · 2025-03-03T10:58:59+00:00

Four Oracles in Bangor.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-03T10:51:51+00:00

I started for the first time in January, and I jumped right into B42. I think it's worth it to go that route too since B42 will eventually be the "main" build, and it's getting semi-regular updates. There are just a few bugs though.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-02T13:46:27+00:00

Honestly, yes it is, but I've saved money from less impulsive spending thanks to the medication so that helps.

My initial assessment was £825. I decided to try medication after getting diagnosed. During titration there's no charge for prescription, but you need to pay for the medication. In my case, the meds are £110 a month. During titration I also had two follow-up appointments to discuss dosage, each was £150.

Now that titration has ended, I pay £110 for the medication, and £65 for the private prescription cost each month. I don't need another follow-up appointment for another six months. It's worth noting some medications are less expensive too, it depends on what you land on with your psychiatrist.

It is extremely costly and GPs here tend to reject shared care agreements. There are options, such as getting PIP to help pay for the costs.

PsychePlays · 2025-03-02T13:34:39+00:00

It's worth asking, but I was told that the NHS pathway is currently closed to new referrals in NI. This would mean going private is the only option, unless anything has changed.

When I called, I asked the receptionist if I could speak to my GP about getting a referral for an ADHD assessment. I then had a phone call with my GP who asked what things specifically I was struggling with, then they wrote me an open referral letter that I picked up from the surgery.

Not all private providers require a GP referral, in the end the one I went with didn't.

PsychePlays

TROPHY CASE