NHS is refusing treatment to children attending private schools.

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.

Thank you growstuff for your research and sharing.

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)

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.

“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?

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

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 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?

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.

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.

LizzieDrip

^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!

Good, because if anyone was using pigeon holing terminology, the NHS trust was here, refusing to even see a child because of his school.

For all we know, we are seeing a very one-sided story from the parent's perspective. They might have already had things explained to them by the Head, by the GP, but surely it is their right to be at least given a consultation?
It isn't something I would have done, but I don't blame them for going to the Mail on Sunday.

This is a guess because I don't know the full details of what the GP requested.

Maybe if the GP had written on the request that Child X has suspected hypermobility issues, such as frequent dislocations/difficulty walking (or whatever), he would have been seen. It would then have had nothing to do with the effect on his education.

As it is, from reading about the case, it appears that it was stressed that he was having difficulties at school and couldn't hold a pen properly. If that's the case, it becomes an education issue. It sounds as though the mother wanted an assessment/confirmation with the aim of obtaining an EHC plan. If that's the case, the hospital only does those assessments for pupils at state schools because they're commissioned (paid) to do them.

Nandalot

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.

My DGS too. He has regular physio and specialist shoe insoles due to hypermobility. No one asked his school.

escaped

LizzieDrip

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!

Good, because if anyone was using pigeon holing terminology, the NHS trust was here, refusing to even see a child because of his school.

For all we know, we are seeing a very one-sided story from the parent's perspective. They might have already had things explained to them by the Head, by the GP, but surely it is their right to be at least given a consultation?
It isn't something I would have done, but I don't blame them for going to the Mail on Sunday.

No, the NHS Trust wasn't using pigeon hole terminology - it was following the law!! It states quite clearly that it only sees pupils who live in Richmond and attend a state school because it's the local authority who pays for the assessments as part of its duty to its own pupils. The private school the pupil attends could have commissioned the NHS Trust to do the assessment.

Nandalot

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.

That was my point earlier.

It's a medical problem which should have been referred by a GP and should have nothing whatsoever to do with where a child is educated.
However, having a similar problem, I've either been dismissed (by a Consultant) or referred on by a GP , depending on which area of the country I was in. In Richmond I was dismissed summarily by a rather arrogant Consultant. However, that was in the 1980s and I was an adult.

The law needs to be looked at again.

In the NHS, all Trusts effectively provide private services with their own cost centres. The parents do not have a right to use a service which is being paid for by somebody else.

I'm not claiming that's right or moral, but that's how the NHS has worked since the 2011 changes introduced by the Conservatives.

Allira

Nandalot

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.

That was my point earlier.

It's a medical problem which should have been referred by a GP and should have nothing whatsoever to do with where a child is educated.
However, having a similar problem, I've either been dismissed (by a Consultant) or referred on by a GP , depending on which area of the country I was in. In Richmond I was dismissed summarily by a rather arrogant Consultant. However, that was in the 1980s and I was an adult.

The law needs to be looked at again.

It depends what the GP wrote on the request. If he/she stressed that the pupil's main symptom was that he was having difficulty holding a pen, it's an educational problem.

Allira

Nandalot

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.

That was my point earlier.

It's a medical problem which should have been referred by a GP and should have nothing whatsoever to do with where a child is educated.
However, having a similar problem, I've either been dismissed (by a Consultant) or referred on by a GP , depending on which area of the country I was in. In Richmond I was dismissed summarily by a rather arrogant Consultant. However, that was in the 1980s and I was an adult.

The law needs to be looked at again.

Indeed Allira, and sympathetically.

The law needs to be looked at again

Write to your MP Allira.

The law needs to be looked at again.

Yes, it does, but it's misleading for anybody to "blame" Labour for it.

How would giving tuition to private school pupils affect the NHS?

My son was in hospital with appendicitis in England, and the tuition provided was dreadful! It only really benefited children with long-term conditions who were missing a lot of school. I wondered how adults in hospital would feel if they were given a load of work from their day job to do while they were missing work!

growstuff

Allira

Nandalot

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.

That was my point earlier.

It's a medical problem which should have been referred by a GP and should have nothing whatsoever to do with where a child is educated.
However, having a similar problem, I've either been dismissed (by a Consultant) or referred on by a GP , depending on which area of the country I was in. In Richmond I was dismissed summarily by a rather arrogant Consultant. However, that was in the 1980s and I was an adult.

The law needs to be looked at again.

It depends what the GP wrote on the request. If he/she stressed that the pupil's main symptom was that he was having difficulty holding a pen, it's an educational problem.

Yes, you are correct there, BUT there could also be a physiological problem and until the child is looked at clinically by a medical expert a diagnosis can't be made. It's the dismissiveness that bothers me.

growstuff

*The law needs to be looked at again.*

Yes, it does, but it's misleading for anybody to "blame" Labour for it.

Indeed.

escaped

growstuff

The law needs to be looked at again.

Yes, it does, but it's misleading for anybody to "blame" Labour for it.

Indeed.

Yes, it is.

But it has highlighted a problem.

LizzieDrip

^The law needs to be looked at again^

Write to your MP Allira.

🤔