NHS refusing treatment to child who attends private school.

[floralcarpets]

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.

Retired community Occupational Therapist here and yes it is nuanced. NHS therapists can and do supply services to children in who are in private education provided the service is provided in the home or in clinics or in patient services. What they can't do is go into private schools to provide services there, although they can usually liaise with therapy services provided by the school (share reports and treatment plans and so on) with the permission of their funding authority, the school and the parents, And yes a home schooled child could get a service in the home as I have already said. Its not anything that this or the previous government have done or changed, its been like it everywhere I have worked since the mid 70's although when money was freer there may have been some allowance made by some NHS or social services fundholders. And yes I like to kick a politician as much as anybody.

This^

My understanding of this was that the OT clinic is commissioned by state schools to provide a service to them. They are not commissioned by private schools to provide that same service. Therefore, no service in this boy's case.

The state schools pay for the OT's services.

Of course a school who's not contributing to that contract, don't get the service.

It sounds to me the issue is the avenue in approaching the OT.

I imagine if the family approached the OT via GP they would of course receive the treatment needed.

So go to your GP

I had a similar experience. We were mid dyslexia assessment when we moved DS to an independent school to get him away from the national curriculum structure that was destroying him. They kindly agreed to finish the assessment, as we hadn’t been aware of the implications when we moved him.
It was a long time ago, I don’t remember the full details.

That said he was at an independent school when we went for IT through the community paediatrician. So there are other routes. But it will be a different service.

This would be fair only if the private school were also given an NHS budget though for the children at their school to receive the NHS services. The access to NHS services shouldn’t be restricted according to how you choose to educate your child. That’s ludicrous.

That doesn’t make sense. The LA will commission the OT service for state educated kids and those with an EHCP. The private schools do not come under the LA. So do you expect the NHS to give the private schools money to then buy back the service??

It isn’t you can access it via your gp

but you don't know (and they have probably never been told) how that service is funded. The hospital I used to work in was near a cruise port and it was paid to advise the onboard medics. When digital clinical imaging came in, images taken on the ship were sent to the hospital to be read by NHS radiologists and clinicians in the hospital. The hospital were paid per consultation and also a retainer and it was a nice little earner for the NHS.

It shouldn't be accessed via any school, it should he a service that dc access via their GP imo.

You are having a rant about something that is nothing whatsoever to do with ANYTHING to do with the non-story. You are not being asked to pay for your childrens healthcare, and you surely aren't really thinking that. The local education authority has commissioned a specific service for the schools that it funds. It does not fund private schools, so they do not get that service. Private schools are welcome to use their income to commission a service.

I am sorry your child was bullied but your child is still able to access the full range of NHS provision. They are not able to access the provision paid for from the local authority, any more than children from state schools can nip up and use the facilities at your private school.

it isn't. It is restricted In Schools.

The NHS has given nobody a budget. The local authority has purchased a service from education budgets. Sned your child to an LA funded school and you get that service, just like you get English lessons - it is the procured package for schools. The NHS is selling a service, not giving it away.

This explains it perfectly, I think!

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/sick-private-school-pupils-denied-access-education

It’s not dissimilar to this situation. How anyone can defend the refusal of LEAs to provide health care and education to ill children (regardless of the technicalities of how the funding works) is beyond me.

Paid For by the Local Authority or anyone else, it’s still a non-education public service that the local authority is only providing to those that go to state schools. Now if private school pupils can still access this service from the GP that’s fine, but if the state is providing no free access to this healthcare service to those at private school then can we agree that that is wrong?

There are so many pupils being failed by the state system whose parents choose private as a last resort. We are penalised by the state system letting us down by having to pay for the alternative schooling, and the BVAT on that alternative schooling. We shouldn’t have to pay for certain healthcare services too.

You don't have to pay for the service if it is provided in NHS premises or in the child's home.

This isn’t new. Arguably the disparity has grown because in-school medical provision of this diet has increased. Children at private schools with an EHCP such that the council pays the fees will get this service free of charge. The many children in the private sector whose parents felt abandoned by the state and jumped ship before getting an EHCP, or those lawyers didn’t manage to get the school stipulated on the EHCP will be self-finding their fees and will, correspondingly, not be eligible for state funded occupational therapy.

Nobody is " forced " to opt out mist people don't have the privilege of being able yo choose.

YABU for not bothering to try to understand the issue before posting rage bait.

I’m not sure it’s all that different. As the article says, it would be expected that the school would sort out a private arrangement. The service is commissioned by the LEA for state educated pupils. The LEA is not responsible for privately educated pupils, hence they have to pay.

These days they go into private schools that take state funded SEN children.

I think the issue here is that so much is now being considered a school's responsibility.... OT, S&L, mental health... Why is the NHS off-loading it onto schools?

The parent says that the child has hypermobility, causing joint pain... Surely that is a health issue and should be treated as such. Why does that need to go through schools?

Why do schools gate-keep so much nowadays? They are not the experts. I'm even talking about ND conditions; in many areas, you can't get a referral for an assessment, unless it goes through the school. My DC was originally refused a full ADHD assessment due to lack of evidence from the school. Yet she had a screening with an ADHD clinical specialist, who concluded she had a high likelihood of receiving a diagnosis. School did not see many ASD traits - all three HCPs she saw recognised them and she has a diagnosis.

I completely understand that schools can't see everything, but that is why it is crazy that they have so much involvement and gate-keep in the way they do.

The other point that no one is making is that just because a service is available in mainstream state schools doesn't mean your child will actually be able to access it. The SEN budgets in schools are hugely over stretched. They might commission 10 hours of OT time a year for a school with a thousand pupils. Most children with SEN, even with an EHCP, will end up having to access private services because there just isn't enough provision to go around.

I have 3 children with disabilities, and even the one with an EHCP doesn't get all the service provision they needs in school. The other two get next to nothing.

I agree!