NHS refusing treatment to child who attends private school.

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https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/boy-denied-treatment-nhs-hospital-private-school-kingston-richmond-b1231805.html

AIBU to think this is disgraceful? The mum is likely paying loads of tax which goes towards the NHS and pays for state schools, yet her child is this treatment which they sound like they desperately need.

If you choose to send your kid to a state school, then you get the support that is offered by that state school.

If you choose to send your child to a private school, then you get the support that is offered by that private school.

If you choose to home educate, then it's up to you to put in whatever support you're able to organise.

There will inevitably be pros and cons to each option. That's just life. Choices have consequences.

If local state schools have commissioned a service for their pupils, then it won't be available to non-pupils.

But the service is commissioned by the state schools. If private school pupils need similar services, there is nothing to stop the private schools from commissioning those services as well.

OT is classed as education, especially if it is to help a child attend school and advise any adaptations if necessary.

It has to be - otherwise they wouldn't be able to differentiate between the amounts paid to the LA for maintained schools to top slice and the General Allocation Grant paid to academies for each child on roll with them.

its not an NHS service. Its a service purchased by the Council/LEA. The NHS do provide services to other comissioners. The income made in this way goes back into local NHS services.

As a retired OT can I correct you? This aspect of Occupational Therapy can be placed under the umbrella of education. Occupational Therapy as a profession does all sorts of things in all sorts of places.

Sorry, I was meaning more in reference to this aspect. I know that as a profession, it can be much wider than that.

It's also the case with my son. His school adaptations happened when OT and Physio assessed his school when he was discharged from hospital.

We've had a lot of input from OT. Along with Physio, they are slowly but surely giving my son his life back due to complications from an illness leaving him disabled and in need of major rehab. Thanks for all that you've done, it really makes such a difference and they are so undervalued.

If an NHS service is commissioned by the council then it is still an NHS service.

Which private schools can also commission. Nothing is stopping them.

Can they though? I suspect not.

Private schools can pay for it. It's just optional for them and some will refuse to.

What you are basically saying is if you go to a market with lots of individual stall holders you should be able to chose one stall holder to pay £59 to and then take items from any stall you like up to the value of £50.

It is nothing of the sort. Still, what can you expect if you get your news from the Evening Standard.

The LEA is one part of children's services, which is one part of the council. It uses specific funding to provide services for state-educated children. The funding provided is specifically for state-educated children, and there are really clear accounting practices to ensure the money is spent on what it is intended for.

There are other parts of children's services which provide other services, such as safeguarding. Some will be part of the council and part of children's services but not part of the LEA. Some funding is for services which are available for everyone; others are restricted to certain populations.

Accounting is a way of making decisions, through budgeting, and the making sure those decisions are adhered to. It's not a trick - it's deliberate. It's just that most decisions about limited resource allocation mean some people get things and some people don't, or get it later.

Education isn't fair. It's inherently unfair that some children are unable to access mainstream education due to SEN. Some local authorites have better alternative provision. Some parents are able to access private provision because they can afford it. Some parents are able to access better provision because they can navigate systems. It's really unfair that some people have a lifelong disadvantage because they can't access the right education as children. It just is unfair and it's wrong.

If parents are able and choose to opt in to private education, they are choosing to opt out of the LEA provision. In this case, that includes LEA-funded OT (but not health-funded OT). I wish they had better choices available.

The alternative is to campaign for a return to centralised services, where all spending is dictated by Whitehall, and everyone gets an identical offer of services, and there is no private education or healthcare - that would be fair.

My daughter had mental health OT and I think it was one of the most important bits pf the life-changing support she received. I am so grateful to the OTs who worked with her.

No. The Local Education Authority is not part of the council; it is the council. It is the authority responsible for educating children within that area, not a council department.

The NHS is not available for hire by private charities.

I just googled and you're right - I like learning new things.

However, the council is also a corporate parent for all looked-after children - that doesn't mean that all services are directly relevant or available to looked after children. So I don't think 'the LEA' and 'the council' are interchangeable terms, which seems to be what you're suggesting. It's not trickery or distraction.

In this case, funding is available for a cohort of children to access OT services. Part of the criteria is being a pupil at a state school. The fact that it looks very much like an NHS-funded service is very unhelpful, and maybe it needs to be made clearer - the people ideally placed to do this would be the independent schools the children go to, and probably before parents choose the school, so they can make a fully-informed choice.

You obviously know nothing about OT.
Anti epileptic medication is health.
OT can be health or occupational. If a worker who is deaf does a job that needs hearing/understanding speech an OT can help with this. If they do a different job they would need different help.
When my DS was starting school he needed help with cutting, sticking, PE. Now he needs help with handwriting, typing. Essentially a different job.

An OT is a registered healthcare professional.

’Council’ and ‘local education authority’ are not interchangeable terms. The council is the local education authority but is not only the local education authority; the council clearly has responsibilities beyond that of being a local education authority.

It is not just this. DCs got the “Queen Elizabeth: A Platinum Jubilee Celebration” book in state primary a few years back. Prep schools did not get it. I think it came directly from the DFE. Blatant discrimination. As we got 2 copies, we gave one to a neighbour’s child in a private school. Given all the local private schools here do have to register with the local authority now, I think that was disgraceful as well.

Epilepsy is health. Developmental coordination disorder, hypotonia, hypertonia, cerebral palsy, deafness, injury etc are also health.

Private school children are at least visible and surrounded by professionals. By saying only state educated children can access this healthcare provision you are also denying it to home educated children who are a very much more vulnerable group. What justification is there for denying OT to the many autistic children who are home educated because they cannot cope in school?

But my DS provision for his DCD is in section F on his EHCP due to the OT specifically saying IT'S EDUCATION.