"Complaints team GGC"

I have been trying to work with staff at the children’s hospital Glasgow for almost a year to resolve what I feel has been repeated negligence and discrimination towards my daughter and I who are both neurodiverse. 

SMT responded and closed the complaint that has dragged on almost a full year, in this response they claim that they as an organisation, they are able to say that neurodiversity can be described under the umbrella term ‘mental health’. Sadly despite me giving the SMT proof from the Scottish Government,  Autism Scotland, many other mental health charities, Autism charities and the NHS website that umbrella terms should NOT be used as this is antiquated use of dangerous language. It encourages sweeping statements and emphasises certain groups while excluding others. Umbrella terms alienate voices and minimise a person’s culture, history or identity.  Also to stress being autistic does NOT mean you have mental health issues, it can mean you have co-morbid tendencies associated with mental health but this is not for people who are not trained psychiatrists or psychologists to make statements about or false allegations against someone who is neurodiverse. You cannot assume someone who is autistic has mental health issues - this is what has happened to me throughout my time challenging SMT at the children’s hospital. It’s been so upsetting and I’ve never come across this rhetoric in any aspect of my life as an autistic adult or parent. 

The entire system to make a formal complaint is not user friendly, to try and negotiate this system/process while still trying to access acute care for my daughter who has been unwell since birth. 

The complaint letter makes statements about how SMT know I will feel without asking me, which I feel is patronising and offensive. I also felt threatened throughout the response to stop highlighting the ongoing discrimination that has been admitted by SMT and they have even engaged with a prominent Autism charity for staff training due to the issues I have raised - how they dare to completely disregard their part and the part a small amount of consultants have played in what I feel is an ongoing attack on me as a parent trying my best to be my child’s voice when she struggles to articulate due to her communication difficulties. 

It’s so sad that in 2023 this level of discrimination exists at such a level in a children’s hospital where a large proportion of their children will be neurodiverse along with parents who access services. 

The complaints procedure took over a year, I was then accused of sending too many emails when I was ignored. My daughter was left untreated and misdiagnosed. 

I also offered on multiple occasions to have mediation services involved which was ignored by multiple staff members - I tried every way possible to improve the communication but I feel I was stonewalled by SMT and they have opted to protect their own rather than deal with the inherent discrimination that in my opinion will result in some children experiencing severe trauma, misdiagnosis and parents being wrongly reported to social services for welfare claims that are non founded and false. 

The Glasgow children’s hospital have saved my daughter, we have strong relationships across various departments such as Gastroenterology , we have had strong links with physiotherapy staff, Rheumatology and psychology staff and ALWAYS nursing staff excel in their understanding of neurodiversity and even though they are so busy they always adapt to meet the child’s needs in our experience. Play leaders and volunteers are exceptional. 

It’s so sad that the SMT feel the need to be so defensive they can’t see how outdated their use of language is towards neurodiverse individual and not recognise that this group of individuals are protected under the Equality Act and the Disability Rights Act, I was shocked to see from my perspective how they twisted language to escape any liability they had in negligence and discrimination. I would recommend SMT and the complaints team link in with the team responsible for campaigning and putting the bill through parliament for further protection for neurodiverse children and adults being safe and protected to access services. 

To stress this is not the entire Glasgow sick kids, this is a handful of very powerful people who I feel have continually silenced one parent who is trying to safeguard her child and who has been fully supported by social work who in fact recommended the staff involved look at what support they need to improve communication and suggested training would be useful, they were 100% supportive of me and my efforts to support my daughter. They have ignored multiple services even though they state they work well with partners. 

Shame on SMT and a small handful of staff for not changing their language and actions inline with prominent legal changes around protections of neurodiverse children and adults. 

I won’t be silenced by them.