GP consent for Pregnant client

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Hiya!

I qualified in October 2004 and have been seeing clients at home since then. I recently joined a clinic to set up one day each week.

I had an equiry from a woman who is 7 months pregnant and wanted to have aromatherapy massage as a treat for herself as she has started maternity leave.

I did a telephone consultation as she lives some distance away. I said I needed GP consent before any treatment, with or without oils and she said nobody had ever asked for that before.

I tried to phone the GP but could not speak to them, so I sent my standard consent letter for them to sign.

GP replied saying she felt no reason for patient not to benefit, but puzzled as to why I was asking for her consent and did I have professional insurance.....

Now, my reasons for seeking permission are as follows:
1. Client previously unknown to me.
2. Raising awareness and standing of aromatherapists in the community, especially with NHS personnel
3. Erring on the side of caution.

What do you all think?

Would be great to hear from you!

Helen X

 

[Kellee]

Its always a good idea as far as I'm concerned and we were taught that we should get gp consent when I was at college. I always thought it would be a great way of developing a good relationship with gps and midwives.

Sally x

 

[Inga]

Makes you wonder whether the GP's etc are aware of what we are being taught doesn't it?

 

[Hailey Hudson]

Helen

you have raised an interesting point which is relevant to all complementary therapists. GP's are bombarded with requests for "a letter from the doctor", and this may mean giving an opinion regarding therapies about which we have no knowledge. The response is often to advise AGAINST such treatment, on the grounds of this lack of knowledge. Hopefully this will change gradually with the introduction of awareness of CT's into the training and general awareness of rank and file medics.

Therefore, to assist you in forming a good relationship with doctors, I would suggest the following :

(1) assume total ignorance of your therapy - you'll probably be correct

(2) outline current best practice in your therapy for the situation involved - eg list oils you propose using, show awareness of what should not be used, and warn of any special precautions or contrindications that YOU are aware of. This will hopefully reassure the doctor that you are well informed.

(3) if you can, give references to support your proposals, or mention a reputed centre who are using aromatherapy in pregnancy eg Birth Unit Midwives at the independent Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth in London are skilled in the use of essential oils for pregnancy and childbirth

(4) if you really want to impress, after giving treatment send the doctor concerned a professional letter informing him of how his patient benefitted from your therapy.

Best of luck with your career - Doq xxx ( married to an aromatherapist )

 

[bean]

Agree with what Doq has said. GP's have no knowledge of our therapies, so therefore cannot be medico-legally responsible for something they know nothing about.

However, the best and easiest route is to get the client to get permission when she nexts visits the doctor or midwife and then get her to sign that she has such permission.

This is now advocated by FHT as doctors are far more likely to respond if one of their patients says 'do you think it would be OK if I had some aromatherapy treatment?'.

Lesley

 

[Durarara A]

Wow!

Interesting responses. Thank you!

I have a standard form which is very simple and I send it to GPs with a first class SAE - always had a response with this and - funnily enough - alwys been positive. I am keen to raise knowledge and understanding of aromatherapy to ANYONE who is prepared to listen!

My contact details are on there and I am happy to talk to a GP - it's often hard to get hold of them by phone!

Looking forward to reading more replies!

Thanks everyone!

Helen

 

[neko_chaness]

That's on eof the reasons why I do not bother with GP's conscent... How can they give an informed conscent if they do not know anything about it?

Artemis

 

[Brainiest]

Good response Doq! Agree with you entirely

Sally

 

[Derek]

doq, thats great advice.

 

[Obamanized]

Good point, but worth also remembering that the GP does have the primary responsibility for each patient in their books.
Even if a patient self-refers to us (what's that 99.5% of the time) communication with their GP (with the patent's consent) is good practice.
I was encouraged at college to write a letter to state that patient X is coming for treatment for this-n-that-itis. And then to write again after a spell of treatment to say how they are now completely recovered at a cost of £...
There wasn't a great deal of confidence that these letters would ever make it to the GPs attention, so if we were particularly concerned about a patient, we were encouraged to phone during the GPs appointed half-hour phone-in time.

I wonder what would happen if every alt-med practitioner did actually write at least 2 letters per patient to the GP in this way!?

Aragorn

 

[hunltqup]

Interesting question...
I have many clients whocome only for one or two sessions and never show up again -despite not being "recovered"- that I would never be able to write the second letter.

Artemis

 

[saviour]

Aragorn - you stated



responsibility is a key factor here - if I as a GP recommend a patient to see any therapist, I am retaining overall responsibility; however if that patient decides to go directly to a therapist without consulting me, the responsibility for care would rest with the therapist. If a therapist writes to me asking for my consent to treat, this would transfer responsibility back to me - and that is why many GP's will not consent, as they have no knowledge to make them feel able to do so.

The therapists that I refer to are the ones who conduct themselves in a professional manner - and good communication is vital. Most practices are computerised now, so incoming mail about a specific person is increasingly scanned into the patient record - and certainly this would apply to all all letters from complementary therapists sent to my surgery.

If you can establish e-mail contact, that is an excellent way to keep in touch, and a hyperlink to your website will be helpful.
The phone-in time you mention is for giving advice to patients - hopefully if you are good enough to phone a doctor about a mutual customer, they will have the courtesy to treat you as a colleague and speak to you more readily.

Behave as a respected colleague and you should get treated like one!

with love & light - Doq xxx

 

[Aggie]

Hi Doq,

Very well worded. If I write fo rconscnet to a GP, I am not only asking "do you agree on your patient getting Shiatsu" but "do you agree on myself trtetaing your patient with Shiatsu". NOw, since they do not know me, how on earth could they say yes or no?

I am wonderimng how GP's woudl react if they got a letter signed both from the patient and the therapist if it is just to inform about treatment and progress?

Artemis

 

[Lelddeema]

Artemis

generally speaking, one would assess an unknown complementary therapist by their training/qualifications, membership of professional body, and holding of professional indemnity insurance.......then one would look at whether any letter received is informative, literate and to the point (you'd be surprised at some we get [:'(] )

After you have treated the client and sent a report to the GP explaining the benefits (we hope) then you stand a chance of getting subsequent direct referrals, and building up a good working relationship with that doctor.

I cannot see any reason why you should send the GP a letter signed by the patient and yourself - it's almost sounds like a "yah boo sucks" gesture [:-]

with love and hugs - Doq xxx

 

[madonna_toller]

Idelally patients should be the ones to inform GP about their health progress... Or am I misisng something?
We often hear that it is a courtesy to inform the GP we are working with one of their patients. Do you , or colleagues you know, find it rude if the complementary therapist doesn't do it?

Artemis

 

[<Ryan>]

Artemis - you posed the question :



I was responding that I would find it odd to get a letter signed by the therapist and the patient, that's all.

Most commonly patients do not tell their GP's they are going to a CT as they fear disapproval, which would be true in some cases [] - however best practice from your point of view would be to do as I have already outlined in previous post.

For me it is a great pleasure building up good relationships with therapists I come to view as colleagues....and I am pleased to make appropriate referrals to them when my patients come to me for advice.

hope that clarifies it for you. xxx Doq

 

[Slm Xx]

Hi Doq,

Thanks for the clarifications.

Artemis

 

[manny k.]

Doq

If only more GP practices were like yours. Sadly not the case yet IME.

Aragorn

 

[rwhwzaii]

hi doq,

as the others have said... if only more GP's were like you!! sadly, they are not and therefore, seem reluctant to have anything to do with therapists at all.

i spoke to a consulatnt once about the idea of doctor consent. his reply was that, if we, as the therapist, were experts on our subject, why would we then assume to shift responsibility back onto the doctor? it seems that this is how some GP's see a consent letter (as pointed out above).

some seem to miss the point that its not a question of "passing the responsibility buck"... its more a curtesy... information for the file... afterall, doesnt the client/patient have overall responsibilty for their health?

maybe our "consent" letters should be more in the way of information... i.e. "your patient has decided to attend for "X" therapy, and having taken a full health and lifestyle consultation, in my opinion as a blah blah qualified therapist, i will be giving X number of treatments for X number of weeks and will write to you again, to let you know progress."??????

dunno would that work? obviously more tactfully written, you understand!

 

[gymnast]

Rosie - your sugestion is exactly how it should be done - not a "consent" letter but information passed from one professional to another. I was trying to outline that in my reply to Helen above

xxx Doq