NHS is refusing treatment to children attending private schools.

My DGD suffers from hyper mobility and is having physio and special gloves etc but it was obtained through the GP not the school. She was not asked which school she goes to.

Allira

^“Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) either through the NHS^

To add - if his GP had referred him should he have been seen?

I still find it surprising and the person responsible may have been adhering to his or her interpretation of the law but was this correct? Or was it due to bias on their part?

Unfortunately, it doesn't mean the child should have been seen. The GP should have been aware of the rules.

The commissioning rules introduced by the Conservatives have caused all sorts of problems for people, including adults. A couple of years ago, an acquaintance was referred by a GP to a hospital service, but the hospital refused to see her because certain other tests hadn't been carried out. This would have meant that the hospital wouldn't have been paid, so naturally it declined to offer the service the GP had requested.

At a simple level it also happens the other way round when a GP won't do a blood test recommended by a hospital. The patient then needs to get the test done by a hospital or hospital hub.

It's all to do with whose budget pays when balance sheets are scrutinised.

This policy has been in place for over 10 years, introduced by the Tory government.

During that time it must have been applied to many children educated in private schools.

Yet, strangely, during all those years, the DM et al didn’t see it as ‘headline news’. Indeed, no mention of it at all🤷‍♀️

I wonder why it’s suddenly become an issue of ‘national importance’ for some media outlets?

Bias perhaps?

It appears that the NHS Trust has apologised for the wording of the letter

Yes growstuff … that is the apology that’s been given - for the wording of the letter!

This policy about SEN was introduced in 2014 when the Tories were in power.

“Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) either through the NHS

To add - if his GP had referred him should he have been seen?

I still find it surprising and the person responsible may have been adhering to his or her interpretation of the law but was this correct? Or was it due to bias on their part?

Quote growstuff Mon 09-Jun-25 11:21:00

“Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) either through the NHS or the local authority. For children without an EHCP, advice may be available through existing NHS services provided in state school.”

I won't quote the whole post but it does seem like a grey area where lines are blurred.

NHS - National Health Service.
This child has a medical (health) problem which affects his education.

growstuff

And I'm going to shut up. There seems little point presenting facts.

Please don’t! It’s so important to have actual facts (in my opinion)

Thank you growstuff for your research and sharing.

growstuff

PS. I haven't "pigeon-holed" anyone and I'm not a lazy thinker. What the NHS Trust has done is apply a law introduced in 2014 and the Daily Mail has spun it to suit its own agenda.

IMO growstuff is one of the least ‘lazy thinkers’ I’ve encountered on GN.

PS. I haven't "pigeon-holed" anyone and I'm not a lazy thinker. What the NHS Trust has done is apply a law introduced in 2014 and the Daily Mail has spun it to suit its own agenda.

CariadAgain It's probable that the NHS Trust is tightening up on its application of the law, just as it is with GP registrations.

aonk

According to this morning’s Times the authority concerned has now apologised and retracted.

I can't access the Times website.

My understanding from other sources is that no "authority" was involved, so I'm not sure which one has retracted.

It appears that the NHS Trust has apologised for the wording of the letter, but it's still the case that the service is not available to children who don't go to a state-funded Richmond school.

"The website of the Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust, states: “Children and young people of school age can be referred via their School SENCo for assessment if they attend a state-funded Richmond school and have a Richmond or Kingston address.”

A spokesman declined to the Mail to address specific claims that private pupils had been discriminated against but “apologised if the wording in our correspondence caused upset. We are in the process of revising it to ensure greater clarity.”

He added: “Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) either through the NHS or the local authority. For children without an EHCP, advice may be available through existing NHS services provided in state school.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman told the Standard: “The story is not true. NHS services are free at the point of use to all.

“NHS occupational therapy services are provided for all children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For those without an EHCP, some schools provide on-site NHS occupational therapy.

“The Trust has apologised for any miscommunication in its correspondence with the family and is amending its wording to avoid any confusion in the future.”

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

I read the article at the time too.

The line that stood out to me was this question is one that has been added in the last few years and her older child (with the same problem) got treated okay and her younger child is being treated differently. Two children in the exact same family!

I see her point - just why did that question get asked (when it never was previously)?

I'd say the question was a set-up in the first place to go and add it to the form. There specifically to give them an excuse to deny the child.

Education and healthcare type stuff are in two separate "boats"/two totally separate things - so just why should one affect the other like this?

Yep.....another one who gets fed-up with the frequently-expressed wish to pigeonhole people into being either "far left" or "far right" these days. Nope - it's the pigeonholers being lazy thinkers and not accepting that they can have one opinion on one topic and a totally different opinion on a different topic. When one has lived for some time (as many of us have by now at our age) then one can laugh at having been told an opinion was subversive/communist etc at one point in one's life and the exact same opinion expressed decades later (still unchanged) can ensure that one solitary little opinion gives someone an excuse to call the person "far right".

Nope - the person concerned may well just be one bog-standard "liberal" basically in their views....and that's what the derogatory one would find out if they really listened to them and got their views on a wide range of topics.

According to this morning’s Times the authority concerned has now apologised and retracted.

I find it really puzzling that people are judged by the newspapers they choose to read. Smacks of rampant snobbery to me.

The lines are blurred, certainly.

I've found that the help available for such a problem varied tremendously in different areas of the country over the years too.

Allira

Well, I took on board what you said and tried to be reasonable !
😀

I wasn't getting at you.

I agree that these kind of anomalies in commissioning arrangements are ridiculous.

Allira

growstuff

love0c

Growstuff I was implying 'morally criminal'. I have very strong feelings regards fair play.

In that case, the law needs to change. That's more difficult than it might appear. Since the Conservative changes of 2011, everything in the NHS has to be commissioned - that means everything the NHS does has to be accountable to some budget or other. It would mean changing the whole financing structure of the NHS.

Local authorities and academies commission and pay for therapy services such as speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy. Local authorities and academies are only responsible for the children they educate, not those who go to private schools, unless a private school is named on an EHC plan.

Thanks growstuff for the explanation.

In that case, the law needs to change.
I think it does. Surely a relatively wealthy country has a duty of care to all its citizens, especially children, when their medical problems affect their education, however they are educated.

After all, everyone receives a State Pension if they have paid sufficient NI contributions , even billionaires receive a bus pass whether they use it or not. Parents pay tax and NI and children should receive the medical help they need regardless of where they are educated.

OK! Just one more post on this topic.

The issue here is that it seems that the child's problem isn't 100% medical. It seems that the mother is worried that her child can't hold a pen properly, which is an educational issue and falls under the rules for joint commissioning. As the child attends a private school, the NHS wouldn't be paid for any assessment or therapy provided because it is the education provider (ie local authority or academy) who commissions the service.

Well, I took on board what you said and tried to be reasonable !
😀

And I'm going to shut up. There seems little point presenting facts.

growstuff

love0c

Growstuff I was implying 'morally criminal'. I have very strong feelings regards fair play.

In that case, the law needs to change. That's more difficult than it might appear. Since the Conservative changes of 2011, everything in the NHS has to be commissioned - that means everything the NHS does has to be accountable to some budget or other. It would mean changing the whole financing structure of the NHS.

Local authorities and academies commission and pay for therapy services such as speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy. Local authorities and academies are only responsible for the children they educate, not those who go to private schools, unless a private school is named on an EHC plan.

Thanks growstuff for the explanation.

In that case, the law needs to change.
I think it does. Surely a relatively wealthy country has a duty of care to all its citizens, especially children, when their medical problems affect their education, however they are educated.

After all, everyone receives a State Pension if they have paid sufficient NI contributions , even billionaires receive a bus pass whether they use it or not. Parents pay tax and NI and children should receive the medical help they need regardless of where they are educated.

love0c

LizzieDrip - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!!!!

I rest my case.

Cossy

It’s pretty clear that legislation is in place and maybe it’s there for a good reason.

It’s very clear though the DM headlines were very misleading

Yes, they are misleading. I think it's part of the battle parents/carers of children with special needs have to get treatment for their children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that not long ago Farage was claiming that GPs are over-diagnosing children with special needs. My experience is the opposite - the rules are so convoluted that parents need endless patience, resilience and understanding to get anything done. Maybe that should have been the focus of the headline.

love0c

LizzieDrip - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!!!!

Why do you think that?

I've given the facts - that's all! What's "oh dear" (x3) about that?

I haven't even stated what I think about the ruling.

What I do know is that it isn't part of the Labour Party's alleged mission to destroy private schools. It was the Conservatives who brought in the legislation.