Shared Care Refused NHS RTC
TLDR: GP has refused SCA, no practices in my area will accept and I am now potentially going to be paying hundreds a month for meds, despite being RTC. This system is broken.
I’m assuming that sadly some of you will have had a similar experience and will be able to give me some advice.
I asked to be referred to CareADHD via NHS RTC in September 2025, after waiting over 3 years on the NHS waitlist. I was really struggling mentally and genuinely don’t think I would still be here today had I not been referred. At the time my GP tried to discourage me, they told me that they would not accept shared care for any RTC provider and I’d be paying hundreds of pounds every month for medication. But out of sheer desperation I asked to be referred anyway.
I was diagnosed (Type C) about 2 weeks later and started titration about 4 weeks after that. And honestly the mental stability I have had since starting medication is something that I never thought I would be able to experience in my life. I genuinely don’t think I could live without them now.
I have had some medication adjustments, so was only 8 weeks at a stable dose at the end of April when I submitted my shared care request (which was advised by careadhd even though my GP had refused previously).
The email from CAREADHD to my GP states “The patient understands and accepts their role in this partnership. They understand that they will need to attend and self-fund an annual medication review and any ad-hoc medication reviews they may need for the successful treatment of ADHD.”
Yet their website states “NHS-funded (Right to Choose):
If you have been referred via your GP, you will not be charged for titration or any annual reviews. These services will be funded by the NHS under the Right to Choose framework.
The cost of your medication is also subsidised by the NHS and therefore you will only be charged the normal NHS prescription rate (currently £9.90/item), unless you are eligible for free NHS prescriptions.”
I was told by my prescriber at my first titration appointment that even if my GP refused shared care that they couldn’t charge me private prescription prices because I am an NHS patient whether my GP accepts or not and that it would just be a £20 processing fee to cover administration costs and the £9.90 prescription costs. I also found this in an article on their website (which I wish I had screenshotted at the time as I can’t find it now).
However there are now articles on the website which state that if your GP refuses shared care it is then up to the ICB as to whether they will allow you to have NHS funded prescriptions or whether you will have to pay privately.
When my prescriber told me about the processing fee at my first appointment, he also advised me to contact other GPs in the area to see if they would accept shared. So I contacted quite a few and every single one said no. (I am in Newcastle). I know GP practices in North Tyneside accept shared care because my family live there but I can’t afford to move and none of my family feel comfortable with me using their address and to be honest I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that either.
The text I received from my GP today refusing shared care had a link to an article from their website which explains their decision. It states:
“From 1st October 2023, we will no longer accept new Shared Care agreements.
This decision has been made jointly with our neighbouring practices in and Primary Care Networks.
We have been receiving a growing number of requests from an increasingly large number of providers.
These requests place an increasing amount of work on our Practice team, and at times, this additional workload is impacting our ability to deliver our core services to you, our patients.
Shared Care Agreements are not a ‘core’ part of our work in General Practice, and without adequate resources to deal with this increasing demand, we can’t continue to assure ourselves that patients are safely monitored to the highest standards of care.”
So it seems like no matter how many practices I contact in my area I will have no luck. I had no issue with the £20 processing fee mentioned by CAREADHD when I started treatment (tbh I’d pay every penny I had just for the mental stability I have now), but unfortunately hundreds of pounds a month for meds just to be a “functioning member of society” is just not affordable for me.
I knew going into this that my GP would not accept shared care so I understand that I can’t really complain but I was at breaking point and then reassured that it would not be the case of paying privately. Now I just feel like everything is up in the air and I don’t know where to turn. I have emailed CAREADHD today to ask for clarification along with some evidence of the conflicting information I have received (but I’m super impatient and waiting for a response is killing me).
I just find it SO frustrating that RTC was a system set up by the NHS to reduce pressure on the NHS and yet a lot of GPs seem to have a huge problem with it. While I understand that GP practices are understaffed and underfunded, but we are also at crisis point and going for the only form of help we can get and yet I still feel punished for not continuing to wait on the NHS waitlist.
(I am still on the NHS waitlist because I keep forgetting to take myself off it and I get texts from them occasionally to say that they will contact me when I am near the top of the list, it has been 4 years now. And I read elsewhere that following NHS diagnosis the waitlist for meds is ANOTHER 4 YEARS)
If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated!
Apologies that this is so long 🫣