NHS is refusing treatment to children attending private schools.

Where are you reading this?

This sounds like Daily Mail stir up. Do they ask children at A and E what school they attend and chuck them out if it’s not a state one? Answer: no.

Proof, I dont believe you.

What do others think?

Since you ask grandmac, I think it’s total BS!

You say you’ve read it - please tell us where, so we can all read it for ourselves.

This is nonsense and you can’t make sense of nonsense!

Daily Mail as expected, lots of ‘accused of’ and ‘according to’. Very little fact if any.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14790767/Boy-8-turned-away-NHS-private-school-pupil-MP-Labour-raid-schools-discrimination.html#:~:text=EXCLUSIVE%20Boy%2C%208%2C%20turned%20away,discrimination'%20in%20our%20public%20services

…of course the ‘outraged mother’ wishes to remain anonymous!

This is a bit more complex than what is being reported. I have't know anyone, in private school or otherwise be given an assessment just because they couldn't hold a pencil properly. Reasonable adjustments would be made inside the classroom which may include using a word processor instead, if severe enough the child may qualify for an EHCP but this would generally be under the education part of the legalities.

Walking frames provided within schools would fall under occupational health but again, funding may come from education rather than health.

I honestly don't believe this has anything to do with private schools. Although there does seem to be a lot of children with lesser needs having an EHCP because their parents are able to pay but this really doesn't change, it;s shame others cannot get support but the belts are being tightened daily by local authorities and health services and people knew this when they voted time and time again for austerity

Sorry don’t believe a word of it typical Daily Mail having one sentence and running with it

Local authorities pay for pupils who are at their state schools accessing certain things like speech and language and occupational therapy. Private schools are not under the jurisdiction of local authority therefore pupils from private schools need to find other means. This was introduced under Tories. The same applies to tutoring. If the child goes to private school, that private school should organise tutoring, not the local authority. It is nothing to do with denial of health care by NHS. You and DM are scaremongering.

Surely private school pupils can still access physio and salt at their local CDC though

The paper shows a photo of the letter sent to the parent which quite explicitly says the child is being refused assessment because he is attending a private school.

This child and his brother both suffer from hypermobility syndrome, which in extremis leaves the person with it in a wheelchair. I have a knowledge of this problem outside anything I read in the newspapers.

While I can see why the NHS could have reasons for asking which school a child attends. I can see no reason why this should feature in any aspect of that childs treatment. The NHS is a state funded national health system (small caps) freely available to all tax and NI paying members of the population.

I find this wholesale refusal to accept anything the DM publishes on any subject quite disturbing, It is a classic far left/right way of dealing with uncomfortable facts.

If you want to know why there is such deep cynicism about the political system in this country, the complete disengagement from the democratic processes and the growing support for Reform, just look at the way both the previously major parties and their supporters look down their intellectually superior noses (as they would see it) at the opinions of ordinary people, their worries, and concerns.

It starts with the denigration of the Daily Mail and everything in it. That paper, in its partisanship is no different from that hallowed journal The Guardian, except that it is right wing and The Guardian left wing.

The best way to ensure that our next government is a Reform government and that Labour, like the Conservatives ends up, metaphorically speaking, picking up fag-ends in the gutter, is to respond the way people have to the news in the Daily Mail in anyway other than they would respond to reports on Social issues in the Guardian.

Apparently the cost of the NHS expertise is paid by the local authority who fund the local schools, not the NHS itself

vegansrock

This sounds like Daily Mail stir up. Do they ask children at A and E what school they attend and chuck them out if it’s not a state one? Answer: no.

Why not check for yourself instead of dismissing it out of hand? That shows your bias.
It has been widely reported and MPs have commented.

If this child is a British citizen, he should have an NHS number and should be offered treatment without judgement. If he is from another country and it is an emergency he should be offered treatment if his country has reciprocal arrangement or if they have insurance. Some services are free to overseas visitors regardless.

I understand he is a British child.

It sounds as if someone was exceeding their authority and making decisions based on prejudice not the fact that the NHS is free for all UK citizens. The fact that this is an 8 year old child makes it more shocking.
Someone must have questions to answer.

The assessment the parent is requesting is for an educational need. This should be undertaken by the school the child attends, outsourcing to a specialist if appropriate.

That’s the way it works. It’s the school that is presumably failing to meet its responsibilities, not the NHS.

Excellent post M0nica

She needs the school to organise an assessment and to put in place a EHCP. The letter said treatment was provided for anychild with an EHCP.

I appreciate it’s frustrating but there is a route to be followed whether the child is in a state or private school.

Lathyrus3

The assessment the parent is requesting is for an educational need. This should be undertaken by the school the child attends, outsourcing to a specialist if appropriate.

That’s the way it works. It’s the school that is presumably failing to meet its responsibilities, not the NHS.

Thank you, was just about to say this.

So a child with hypermobility cannot receive NHS treatment if they are educated privately?
Was the sibling educated in the State system, then? He received long-term treatment.

Claremont

Lathyrus3

The assessment the parent is requesting is for an educational need. This should be undertaken by the school the child attends, outsourcing to a specialist if appropriate.

That’s the way it works. It’s the school that is presumably failing to meet its responsibilities, not the NHS.

Thank you, was just about to say this.

Thst's splitting hairs.

The assessment was due to a physical condition which the child has which affects his mobility which could affect his education.
That should comes under the umbrella of NHS services, which are free for all British citizens.

The Clinic was not an educational establishment, it was a NHS clinic to help those with physical problems cope with their every day needs.

Questions need to be asked.

Lathyrus3

The assessment the parent is requesting is for an educational need. This should be undertaken by the school the child attends, outsourcing to a specialist if appropriate.

That’s the way it works. It’s the school that is presumably failing to meet its responsibilities, not the NHS.

Precisely.

Anyone who knows about the SEND assessment process understands this.

Presumably the DM, if they don’t understand the process, could have found out about it - it’s in the public domain.

But, of course ‘Private School Fails to Assess Child’s Special Needs’ isn’t such an enticing headline for the DM reader.

I don’t think it’s splitting hairs.

As I understand it she was requesting help for in school. I’m willing to be shown that she had been to her GP with concerns and had been referred to the NHS clinic by that route.

But there is a route for all children to access educational need. I don’t think leapfrogging it because the school has not yet carried out the initial assessments would be right either.

It can easily be resolved by the school carrying out its responsibilities.

It is splitting hairs.

SEND is funded by the NHS
Regardless of the fact that these parents pay for private education for their child, they will still be paying NI and taxes which fund the NHS which is denying treatment to their child.