NHS refusing treatment to child who attends private school.

Of course you can.

Just not through what you've opted out of.

It was the Tories. In 2014.

That's unfortunate. DD has spd. She's had allsorts with them, even an intensive weekly course to help her ride a bike amongst other things. She had weekly OT intervention for nearly a year last summer. I've been really impressed with them.

Postcode lottery no doubt.

My DS has an EHCP and the OT on it comes under education, not health.

So if your child goes to a private school you cant access Nhs treatment? wow labour snuck that one in, apparently in November

SLT here. Usually the way it works is that the NHS services are accessed through GP referral in clinic (along with a very long wait). Assessment takes place and child is deemed in need or not. They are then provided with a block (usually 6 weeks) of therapy in schools. The threshold for NHS therapy is very high and most children do not qualify or a discharged quickly. Many NHS SLT services now work or are moving towards a whole school or targeted approach (called the balanced system) which means that, although your child qualifies, the SLT may work direct with parents or school staff teaching them how to implement strategies.

state schools do receive a budget to commission SLT or OT services in. This is usually done by independent practitioners or companies or the school/trust hiring their own practitioner. This is for children who have need but don’t meet NHS threshold.

from the schools that I have been in OTs are rarer than SLTs and I’ve only really seen them do assessments.

there is a huge need for children to access these services but not the funding.

Absolutely this.

The headline is grossly misleading.

Almost 20 years ago we were advised by the Ed Psych we paid for in private school to go to State. Our son otherwise would not access SALT and OT. It has always been thus . Also in state you get Ed Psych. In reality the NHS purchased OT and SAlT are fairly useless even if you get sp called direct therapy and half the time they ask to get it written out of the EHCP. Those who can, pay for support on what ever setting hence you have DLA.

None of which are funded by the DfE via the money that goes to the Local Authority on the basis of the number of children in state funded education.

@SpidersAreShitheads I did not know before today’s thread how state schools financed the support. Thank you, the clarifications you and others have provided are very helpful, and have actually made me understand the issue in a way I hadn’t before.

This is actually really disingenuous. Private school parents have paid tax just as state school parents have. In fact they now pay significantly more tax than a state parent on the same salary. There’s no freeloading. Government legislation has these services funded differently than general healthcare. You could leave the private system tomorrow and get the services for free. I’m not sure how that would help stretched budgets. It’s ok not to agree with private schools but to call parents freeloaders is really unpleasant.

Good on you. Our local policy is no assessment and targeted OT therapy anymore for students with sensory processing disorders. Other OT needs are still covered.

State schools are AMAZING considering the underfunding and pressure and the entire welfare system they’re expected to provide for people who can’t be bothered to parent their kids or teach them any general knowledge about anything!

because that particular OT service will be funded by the local educational authority which they have opted out of.

The paediatrician needs to refer somewhere else or the parents need to ask the child's school if they will pay for it, just as state schools do via the LA.

If it was for general health needs you would self refer or go through your GP to NHS children's therapies. Which school he attends would be of no relevance.

If it was for educational needs you or the private school would have to pay for it as you have opted out of state educational services. This is because the local authority SALT is a traded service, so money from the state schools' budgets are paying for it.

Essentially the situation is that your son's private school can't have services for free, that state schools pay for. Some state schools opt out, keep the money and choose to commission their own SALT services or are academies and just keep the money for other things. If his school.dont commission SALT services, I assume they expect you to.

That's not true.

Dc both had OT intervention. One repeatedly over a number of years. It must depend where you are.

Not at all, the referral was to a service which the LA has paid for, but the private school has not. I'm pretty old-fashioned as well, at least when it comes to not attempting to freeload and then make a huge stramash about it in the flippin' Daily Mail.

I don't understand posters saying that this child could access this service through the GP instead of through school?

Child was referred to a paediatrician (presumably by the GP?) At this appt the mother was asked which school he went to. They were then told that he wasn't eligible for an appt at the clinic.

How do homeschooled children access these services? How do adults access these services?

Why are any schools paying for any medical interventions? I understand that hypermobility affects school work, but that's not the full extent of the condition.

I can't grumble about my son's support so far in a state school. They've gone above and beyond.

I do think he's definitely in a minority though. I feel like it helps that he was initially referred when he was still an inpatient during a hospital stay.

That's great that your private school is one of those who have agreed to pay.

But leading on from your initial comment where you were unhappy about the requirement to pay, you do understand now that state schools pay for it too?

In your previous post you said it was unfair that the private school has to pay - but state schools also pay. No one gets it for free. The payment system is just less visible to parents in a state school.

I was a school governor for 5+ years, hence having visibility of finances, arrangements etc that weren't available publicly.

I have two SEN DC and unfortunately in our area, private schools are spectacularly uninterested in providing support - unless you also happen to be academically gifted, because of course, that would look good on their stats....

@Jasp3ru as it happens my DC’s (excellent) private school did agree to pay for one visit a year. And we’ve had no issues with their SEN support for my DC - so please don’t generalise.

This highlights the issues with both private education and healthcare.

If you cherry pick all the 'winners' from the start you can create a very effective streamlined system for the people willing to pay. In healthcare this is rich people wanting hip replacements, and it only works because they can cherry pick. If bupa had to also provide icu care, treat asa 3 patients, mrsa carriers or ex drug users, it would fall flat on its face.

Same with private schools, if they also paid for all the social input, sencos, OTs, truanting kids, remedial meetings with parents etc that the mainstream schools have to cover by law, there would be less resources to dedicate to teaching and they would either be unsustainable, or the educational standards would drop.

This hits the nail on the head

That they buy into.

This is nothing new our son was in a private school when his deafness was diagnosed and he wasn’t entitled to the ‘hearing nurse’ which we fully understood because it’s a service for state schools .