Monday I work as a mental health nurse in a GP practice. Today I assess four new patients and do two follow-ups for patients I have seen before. The first patient doesn’t attend. The second complains about the long waiting times – about a month, which is fairly typical, and on par with the waiting list for physiotherapy and other specialities. She has been seen by psychiatrists and diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder; she disputes this and wants an autism spectrum disorder assessment. ‘Cass’s ex is a gang member and child trafficker who hit her’: my job in social work Read more She also tells me the online group she is part of told her not to leave the appointment until I prescribe mood stabilisers for the diagnosis she says she doesn’t have. The whole appointment lasts an hour, which is the amount of time we have […]