Hi Ken, pleased to meet you as it were.
I was begining to wonder if the post had been filled at all but I see now that you have been very busy for the best part of the year. Could the Alliance admin send the link via a PM to every site user ? I'm sure that many people may have moved on & are possibly not even in treatment anymore but there are loads of forum users who do not visit the site as regularily as some. Maintenance prescribing does seem to be a hot topic just now. A few years ago the only person who would ask me what dose I wanted was my GP, now in the last year I have been feeling the pressure of my CDT or key to reduce. My GP has known me for years & has dealt with my chronic depression as well as other medical problems that I have had. He is the only single person that actually knows me , also working alongside me in my occupation on a regular basis. He himself has no problems with me wanting to remain maintained. What I do find worrying is that the CDT that he prescribes for is not run by anybody who is a medically trained professional & the policies that come down from above are not made by anybody with any medical training. It appears that while prescribing for the CDT he must follow " their " policies, even when they may be ones that he disagrees on.
It's sheer madness, anybody would think that these CDT's / DSPs would have at the head of them somebody trained specifically on addiction & the surrounding issues, but my GP is the only one with such training & can be overuled on a desicion by those above him. Often the people above him are quite clueless about the realities of addiction / drug use with their expertise lying more in the field of policy making, economics etc. More like businessmen / women. Is this a sign of things to come ? With the re-structuring of the NHS are we going to become another one of the American states ? I sincerely hope not.
