Last June I went to see my GP to ask if she could help me get access to Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT). This is an intervention for Tourettes that aims to help you change damaging tics into ones that have less impact. My tics were causing me painful injuries and I really needed help.

Until then I’d been taking medication to control the tics but it’d stopped working and I’d really wanted to try a treatment that wasn’t drugs. I’d asked my neurologist about HRT many times but he’d always said he couldn’t help because there was a shortage of therapists. My GP had emailed lots of people and eventually found someone who would be able to provide the therapy.

All I needed was for the Primary Care Trust to agree to fund it. It’s been six months, and I’ve still not heard a thing. Today I wrote to complain about how long it’s taking.