I’ve seen a lot of these letters flying around recently between various services that work with vulnerable people and their families, probably due to the pressures of austerity. Since we’re all constrained for time, feel free to copy and paste this for future use.
Dear Professional from Another Service
Our service has discussed this client in our team meeting which we didn’t invite you to. Our service is currently under strain due to service cutbacks. Naturally, any suggestion that your service has similar problems would be ridiculous!
Our service decision is that the client fits your referral criteria, which we haven’t read, and that you should engage the client with the resources that we haven’t checked if you’ve got. We have concluded that it is the role of your service to fire a magic wand out of your backsides and sort everything out.
We do not look forward to hearing from you, as it’s your problem now.
Yours Sincerely
Department of Buck-Passing
I hope this template will be useful to you in your inter-agency correspondence. But do please note that if you send one to me you’ll be getting a letter back suggesting a joint meeting.
Unsafe Spaces 