Specialist Psychiatric Services
At ScreenSafe UK we know that a drug and alcohol test result is sometimes not enough to complete the “whole picture”. Where more information is desired or required, we offer psychiatric services via our established and experienced team of consultants in adult substance misuse psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. They have training and expertise in parenting assessments, delivering high quality jargon-free focused reports primarily in public law family proceedings cases.  We are aware of the needs of the court for reports to be made available on time and on budget, and we will work with you to make sure that this is achieved.

What We Can Do For You
We can provide a range of services to make your job easier.  Firstly we can obtain medical notes for you.  Secondly, where clients experience difficulty in or resistance to getting to appointments we can arrange transport. Where hair-testing for drugs or alcohol is required we can arrange this, often at the same time as their appointment with the adult psychiatrist. We provide psychiatric assessments of adults as well as child and parenting assessments (the latter often on the same day).

We can provide all these services for a fixed fee, agreed in advance and subject to the court’s assessment at the end of the case.  We only charge cancellation fees where no fee-earning work can be done and we do not charge interest on late payments.

Court Work
All our Psychiatrists are experienced in appearing in court and understand the importance of booking diary dates in advance.  

Case Studies

Case Study 1 - Ms B was a 42-year-old single mother of one. After many years of intermittent contact with social services, there was sufficient concern about her care of her child for an interim care order to be taken out. Social Services concerns centred on her low mood and intermittent drinking behaviours and a doctor had opined that she had a personality disorder.

A careful study of her medical records showed that although she was always presenting to her doctor with depression, regular blood testing records revealed a persistently raised mean cell volume, usually associated with heavy alcohol use. She was in denial but it was made clear to her that this was her primary problem and that unless addressed nothing would change. She worked with an alcohol counselling service and was seen for 2 further reports. The outcome was that she was deemed to have made sufficient progress for her child to be returned to her sole care.

Case Study 2 - Ms C was a 38 year old woman who had been in the south of England for only 4 years. She had developed a schizophrenic illness and was having difficulty in looking after her children. A report from an adult psychiatrist was commissioned after an interim care order was put into place. At interview in become very clear that, although her illness was under control there was prima facie evidence of a serious personality disorder which was interfering with her ability to parent.

Old notes were obtained, confirming the diagnosis and a parenting assessment carried out at the suggestion of the adult psychiatrist. This revealed deep-seated and intractable problems with parenting associated with her own upbringing and the abuse she had suffered as a child. As a result the court made its decision not to return her children to her care based on this rather than any issues associated with her mental illness.

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