Can a private school access child's NHS medical records? ADHD diagnosis

[Questionsquestions12]

Hello

DD was diagnosed a year ago and we tried some medication but it didn't help much, and over the last 6 months or so we feel symptoms are not really impacting/have gone. In hindsight, many of our concerns and DD's symptoms were from stress of moving house and changing schools.

We haven't disclosed the ADHD diagnosis to new senior school because we don't feel it's relevant anymore. Can the school access medical records (haven't read through the pages and pages of T&Cs but the acceptance form did say that we should declare any health information.

Why would the school need or even want to access medical records?

To see if DD has a diagnosis for ADHD - which we haven't disclosed to school.

Does the previous school know about the diagnosis? I don't think they can access medical records but the previous school may share the information. I believe you would have to agree to that though.

They can't access records but why haven't you disclosed it? School can't discriminate against your DC and knowing about the diagnosis would enable your DC to access any relevant support they need, not just now but in future.

if you daughter is a boarder and gets registered with a GP surgery that works closely with the school, it may be picked up by a GP if she ever needs to see them. The school should not be able to access that information. However, if she were to later experience difficulties, and it were to come out later that she has an undisclosed ADHD diagnosis, the fact you withheld that information it might not be looked upon too favourably. Would it really be problematic to disclose on the the health forms, but write a letter explaining your views?

I’m not sure why you would choose not to disclose it even if she isn’t having symptoms at the moment. They can’t discriminate against her for it.

Regarding the question though you have to give permission for them to access the records.

Schools can’t access medical records. Usually when there is a change of school the old school will send any important documents held onto the new school, so the old school will likely have access to any records/ information held by the last school (although the transfer of everything or the new school looking at everything they receive isn’t guaranteed) so if the old school knew of the adhd diagnosis they may pass this on to the new school. If the adhd diagnosis is only on your child’s medical records and hasn’t been shared beyond this then schools can’t access these records.

DD won't be boarding, and we didn't share any information with the previous school either, because she was close to leaving and we didn't see the benefit. Her school already knew her very well and she was happy there.

I don't see how it could come out later, unless the school were to access NHS medical records (we shared the report with our GP). The diagnosis came from a private doctor.

I've got to say too that if we had a child in my school who had a diagnosis that wasn't disclosed to us and this later came to light then it would definitely be raised with our safeguarding lead as a cause for concern.

Yes, same here.

Does she know she has ADHD?

Why wouln't you tell them?

By “come out later” I mean if your daughter started to display symptoms, concerns were raised by school/you/your daughter, it was mentioned that it may be worth looking into a diagnosis… what would you do, lie that she has never been diagnosed, or even assessed in the past? Presumably you would come clean, and at this point the school would (rightfully in my opinion) be concerned about the lack of communication on your part.

If your child has a diagnosis then I assume it also has identified possible supports, resources or educational approaches that would benefit them.

You are putting your child at a disadvantage by not "evening the pitch". I would be very wary of your DC reaction as an adult, as your actions are sending a clear message - the diagnosis is negative.

Have her symptoms "gone" be aise she's more settled now so is more emotionally regulated or have they "gone" because you've learned how to manage them (consciously and unconsciously)and so she's more emotionally regulated or have they "gone" because she's a little older and has learned some self-management - I can guarantee you it's a combination of these three factors rather than the ADHD has simply gone away.

So let's say a few months from now, she's going through a tricky patch at school and is in a bit of an awkward stage of her development and it gets a little more difficult for her to self-manage and self-regulate so she starts exhibiting more visibly typical ADHD behaviours. School raise the issue and suggest assessment. You'd have to disclose she has a diagnosis and then you'd be referred to the safeguarding team for withholding that information as she could have been getting support the entire time but wasn't as school weren't aware.

Absolutely, it is sad op you are ashamed of your child schools can only help if they information so playing God and deciding its not relevant does a disservice

If you genuinely believe that your DD would no longer meet criteria for ADHD (as opposed to just thinking that it might be more judicious not to let her new school know about it), then why not get her re-assessed? I'm guessing that, since the last assessment was private and she'll be attending a private school, that wouldn't be out of reach for you. Then, if it turns out you're right and it was just stress, you can stop worrying about having to conceal this diagnosis.

Why on earth wouldn't you tell them? It could be very important in the exam years.

Schools cannot access a child's NHS records - they can only receive information shared with them by parents or agencies which do so for safeguarding reasons.

thing is, there may be other stressful points in her life, and if its ADHD then it hasnt gone away, its just not so evident now at a moment when things are calm.

If it rears up again around GCSE time it will be too late to put anything in place for her, plus also there are alot of things like revision and organising workload that can certainly be a problem for those with ADHD, which is would be helpful for the school to know so that they can address suitable strategies.

ADHD as a young child has different challenges to that for an older child and for one who needs to develope executive function. Those challenges may have been to do more with behaviour in early days, and concentration, but there are different barriers to negotiate as they move towards and into adulthood, if they are going to flourish

Not without your consent. However if it comes to light later, and transition to secondary is a typical time for behavioural changes and issues to arise, there may be repercussions. How supportive is the school of Additional Needs?

Are you saying that your daughter was given a diagnosis of ADHD without the school she was at being aware it was taking place?

As a SENCo, I have to fill out lots of forms/questionnaires for the paediatrician when assessments are being done so would be fully aware it was happening. Did this diagnosis get done without any input from the school?

Assuming she knows (or even if she doesn't and finds out later) this is a fantastic way to make her feel likes it's a shameful, dirty secret and not something that she has grants her a right to legal to reasonable adaptations. Not coping is definitely something to hide

It's also really concerning that you're sending her to a school where you seem to have concerns she won't be accepted with a very common diagnosis.

It also perpetuates stigma

But yeah - the school can't access her records

It's incredibly common for private assessors (some of whom are qualified psychiatrists, some of whom are not) not to get any information other than what parents (and children) tell them.
It's obviously not how it should be done.

No they can't. You can't even access your own without going through hoops.