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.

This has never happened in my own experience but I take your word for it-I think that it’s appalling that happens!

But you DO need parental consent for the child medical details to be shared with school. (or other agencies unless it’s a ss investigation or something where that takes precedence). School MUST keep that information confidential.

I once had a parent take their child for a private ASD assessment after CAMHs had ruled it out. After the assessment, the psychologist came into school to met with myself (Senco) and the class teacher to go through her report and recommendations.
We at school were never consulted and the mum had reported lots of issues at school that no one had ever witnessed. The psychologist took what the mum said as gospel. When I tried to point out that what mum was saying about in school behaviours wasn’t accurate, the P said that the DC must have been masking. I’m not an expert psychiatrist, but I don’t think that masking and having a meltdown is the same thing at all.
It’s vital that a multi agency approach is taken to assess children, because getting it wrong is dangerous!

We see it distressingly commonly. Sometimes it feels as though the diagnosis is being sought because a child is less academic than a parent thinks reasonable or less compliant. I'm not saying that's always the case but I would say that 50-70% of private diagnoses we see have had no external corroboration of symptoms. I used to challenge private psychiatrists and their cynicism was appalling.

I am pretty shocked that you sought and received a diagnosis for symptoms that you now say have gone and that having got this diagnosis you are now seeking to hide it presumably because you want to access a private school. This is what leads to people doubting private diagnoses that do not seek to get the input of the school.

New school will request records from previous school. The sen status and any relevant reports will probably be in the file.

I think it’s up to the parents/child if they wish to share medical information with school. It doesn’t really matter if the child has a particular diagnosis or not.

It matters for the child though surely?

For the right support and things in place to help?

I think in secondary the child would fairly soon be able to choose for themselves, but they won’t necessarily choose to make a dx public.

For my dc we ticked who. Info could be shared with and revisit that at each annual review for ehcp and have also at each transition. Interestingly one of my dc had no dx despite quite significant needs, because it wasn’t possible to dx him as A or B till he was a bit older. The SENCO refused to believe he hadn’t been diagnosed with B and phoned the Dr direct (he explained he would not be speaking to her about any of his patients). He was fairly vocal in his disapproval and had been in his position in area for over a decade and said he’d never been put in that position before. Dr patient confidentiality isn’t a nice to have and school don’t have a right to know a child’s dx and don’t need to. They work on “need” not dx and always have.

They work on “need” not dx and always have.

Absolutely. We have numerous pupils on our SEN register without a diagnosis. If they move and go to a new school-they would be flagged to the new school as having SEN when the records were transferred on the system.

I don't think so, but if boarding the house parent is in loco parentis and they have to be registered with a GP through school. I think in that instance school would know a summary of a particular issue like a fracture etc. but think you have to sign a form to allow this.

@stayclosetoyourself why do you think the school would have access to your medical details? They’re held by your GP and there are stringent rules about who can access them and that access is tracked.

I don't think they have access to records as such no but they may attend an appt in loci parentis if a boarder and that form has been agreed.

That’s not correct.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/data-protection-in-schools/sharing-personal-data#:~:text=To%20keep%20children%20safe%20and,purposes%20of%20safeguarding%20a%20child.

@JenWillsiam that basically says you DO need consent and then details that it must be explicit, understandable and you must tell them they can refuse and how to remove consent.

No it doesn’t. You’ve only read one section. Expand the section on schools, LA and safeguarding.

I read that as you send the CTF through which contains sen provision (Ie what has been provided to date) not diagnosis or “nhs files”(which are held at the GPs and NOT accessed in school or passed in this way).

Of course it doesn’t include nhs files. But to say that schools cannot share anything anything without consent is incorrect.

Who diagnosed her?! Don't tell me - you paid privately.

Makes me so angry as the parent of a child who genuinely does have ADHD. It's not something that just 'goes away' and it's not something you should easily be able to pay for to get a diagnosis.

And now you're trying to make it 'go away' Unbelievable.

Many private school parents pay a lot of money to investigate Dyslexia/ASD/ADHD - as private schools take this seriously. Not sure why you would want to deny her support by not disclosing it

A private diagnosis who didn't even speak to her school isn't with the paper it's written on imo.

I'm not against private diagnosis from a totally legitimate source but I suspect if your didn't involve school it's not legit.

I can't get my home ed DD assessed because both private (we sourced a decent private psychiatrist who also works working NHS) and NHS would want evidence from 2 settings and I am only one; school is ordinarily the other for children going through the process.

I think this is more a case of dodgy private diagnosis really

To be fair, OP said earlier that the assessment included input from her DD's tutor, which isn't really the same thing as school involvement but is at least some kind of external perspective from someone who knows her within a different kind of relationship, albeit from a person who probably sees the DD in a home environment (and in any case is directly paid by the OP and may have been reluctant to contradict her). I wouldn't say it's a reliable diagnosis, but it's at least suggestivez and I wouldn't think it's safe to just ignore it.

Given what we know — past diagnosis of ADHD, possibly inadequate assessment, borderline test results, reduction in symptoms after temporary stressors removed, OP's doubts about the diagnosis — it would, IMO, be irresponsible at this point to either disregard the earlier assessment altogether and assume it was a misdiagnosis, or to go full steam ahead and treat it as a 100% sure thing. And in either of those cases, keeping it from the school would put stress on the DD (assuming she knows) and could backfire badly.

To me, the only sensible thing to do is to tell the school everything — the reason for originally seeking assessment, the existing diagnosis, the reason for doubt over its correctness and the DD's current functioning — inform them that you're planning a reassessment with a reputable multidisciplinary private service, and say that you'd appreciate their input when the time comes, after they've had long enough to be able to offer an opinion. Then go to the second assessment, provide everything to the assessors including the previous assessment report, try to be honest and not talk anything up or down, and see what happens.

You can't just leave a diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental disorder that you've lost confidence in wafting around in the air like that, not knowing how to answer questions about disabilities when either answer feels like an untruth.

Apologies if I was unclear. The OP is concerned about a school accessing her child’s nhs files and diagnosis without her or the child’s consent and that was the focus of my responses on this thread. You can of course share information about a child from one setting to another if it’s appropriate and or if the parents/child give consent. OP is interested in the line between medical info being shared and educational info being shared, or that was my reading of the situation.

In my experience there’s a fair amount of confusion about this both in school and among the parent population.

So you argue it was a time of massive stress change that made the symptoms pronounced? I can't help but feel a new school, GCSEs, options, A levels, university (and in my experience at work general teenage friendships) all may induce stress or count as massive changes that could be triggers to restart if it has subsided. Do you plan to just wait till this point then spring it on the school? What if you don't know and unintentionally disadvantage her during these moments?

Equally, if this was a genuine diagnosis it doesn't go away necessarily, often home and school can witness slightly different behaviours by the virtue of the setting and pressures so please be careful if you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't still present.