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.

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!

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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.

Absolutely this.

The headline is grossly misleading.

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.

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

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

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.

It was the Tories. In 2014.

Of course you can.

Just not through what you've opted out of.

Similar here.

My son has OT, Physio and Hydrotherapy. They can't ever do enough for him.

Seems to me it's an operating model designed to discriminate against non-state school kids. So many people saying the LEA pays for this service. The LEA is funded from public money. The NHS is funded from public money. The LEA paying the NHS is an accounting gimmick for the government - like me taking a tenner out of my left pocket and putting it in my right one. All children are entitled to LEA and NHS services, however poor they are. Yet here we've got an NHS clinic, funded from public money, that only provides services to state school children. And people think that's fair.

The LEA provides educational services to those in state schools, paid for by the schools.
The private school could also commission the services.

This is the operational model chosen by the government. These services could easily fall under NHS services if things were configured differently. Perhaps private school parents need a contract from the government when they chose to leave state education detailing what services they will longer be entitled to?

Private schools can pay for the services should they wish to do so, if they don't then it is on them.

A parent such as the one in the link using private school and then complaining about things not being fair is actually laughable.

Chosen by the Tory government, yes.

#MadeUpHeadlineMonday 🌈

It's in the Children and Families Act 2014

You have had more than a decade to lobby against it

Why should private schools pay for NHS services that everyone should be entitled to? It doesn't matter whether you agree with the fairness or otherwise of private schools, this is about access to NHS services through an NHS clinic.

Read the thread. Multiple people have explained many, many times now.

If the LEA paid a private provider for these services, fair enough. What is happening in this case is that you've got an NHS clinic (not a private clinic within the NHS, an actual NHS branded clinic) refusing access to kids outside state schools. If this clinic said they only offer services to private schools, there'd be an outcry, regardless of how much money changed hands.

Do you never RTFT?