Got statement. Coming up to review.

[yomellamoHelly]

Can't get through to Ipsea's helpline this am, so am wondering if someone else has been in this position.

Ds's statement was finally implemented on 29th January of this year. Review is set for 20th Feb next year. Therapy provision is from a private clinic as was too much for school / NHS.

Had letter today asking for my permission to allow NHS to assess his therapy needs in anticipation of getting the NHS to provide the statement. (With current provision PT, OT and SLT would each need to work an extra 1/2 day in school.)

My gut is telling me that what they're really saying is that they'd like to reduce ds's provision (can't believe they seriously intend to extend contracts just for ds) in February as the person they've asked previously wrote a very rude report (and I wish I was joking) saying that the agreed final statement was a load of nonsense and he was fine with what the school was providing (no 1:1, no therapy).

Gut reaction is to tell them to F* O**.

Is there a fancy way I can dress this up or is the only way to tackle this to get ds reassessed by our expert witnesses to rebut this in February?

We settled 10 days before tribunal. Took 3.5 months to implement due in part to this woman's report.

You'll need to prove this is cost-cutting via freedom of information act requests to the body who provides NHS paediatric therapies locally, the LA and the PCT (same wording: but you may get different answers!).

Ask how much your ds's therapy provision currently costs, and whether any children receive similar size packages via the NHS. Is therapy in schools covered entirely by health funding, is there a block contract, and/ or smaller scale contracts (eg per child, per school, per patient contact or per item of service).

It might be worth posting for better advice than mine about FoI requests. You'll probably need to consent to the assessments so you get the reports in plenty of time for your expert to tear them to shreds comment constructively on any differences of opinion.

Thanks for your reply MM. Ds is out of borough placement. Which PCT would I ask local one to us?

You can tell them that he already has assessments booked and that assessments can't be done too often (usually a year apart, but at least 6 months), but they are more than welcome to observe him, provided you accompany them.

Oooo I'm liking that. Seems like a way forward. Does the spacing thing come from anywhere?