NHS is refusing treatment to children attending private schools.

Grantanow

Typical Dail Wail. It's an educational issue.

Are you a medical professional?

Have you seen all the paperwork in this case in order for you to make that decision?

Typical Dail Wail. It's an educational issue.

LaCrepescule

Utter BS

What is? My post is immediately before yours - are you referring to it?

Utter BS

It's a shame the Daily Mail (or whoever first broke this story) didn't focus on the need to change the law rather than adopting the focus it did.

I'm sorry to hear that growstuff. It's awful that your GP's dismissive attitude affected the outcome. I see here another example of pigeon-holing you as a slightly neurotic patient, which obviously you were not. They do sound negligent.
(As you ask, the only gp referral letters I've read are one or two introductory liners because I'm lucky to have private medical insurance and very often - certainly before covid - I am seen before the letter is even typed, however insignificant the problem).

We don't know what was in the gp's referral letter for this young boy. I do hope all his issues associated with hypermobilty were mentioned. DGS has crippling pains in his legs, like growing pains, but it can affect his tummy too, which then increases his anxiety, which in turn affects his education. So, the illness in the Kew boy could affect more than just the one joint used to hold a pencil. Something called Ehlers–Danlos syndrome would also need to be considered by a consultant.

I just hate to see anyone dismissed, disbelieved, or treated differently for whatever reason. It's wrong. And yes, I know, on occasions it's the law, but I too am glad it has been highlighted.

Allira Maybe the child didn't have problems holding a spoon or tying up laces. In any case, it was wrong to blame Labour for a Conservative policy.

escaped Have you ever looked at the letters your GP writes to a hospital? They should be available on your Patient Record, so you can read them if you want.

Three years ago, I had a worrying symptom in my breast and the GP referred me to the local breast screening service. However, the GP botched the referral letter (which I later read) and made it sound as though I was just a worried, slightly neurotic patient. The breast screening service refused to see me until I was due for a routine mammogram.

Fortunately, I only had to wait six months and - lo and behold - I had breast cancer. The tumour was in exactly the place I'd been complaining about.

The GP should have used different words to describe the sensation (not pain) I felt and I would have been referred to the two week breast cancer pathway. If I had, my tumour would have been smaller and my surgery not so extensive. The fault was in the way the GP described my symptoms.

I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the GP in this boy's case didn't describe all his symptoms. If they had been more generalised, it wouldn't have been just an educational issue. It sounds as though the mother wanted the assessment so that she could apply for an ECH plan. If that's the case, it's an educational issue and that's why the hospital declined to offer the service.

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.

I suppose that depends on one's interpretation.

It matters not if it's a pen, a knife, fork, spoon, doing up laces because of hypermobility, it's a medical problem.

growstuff

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.

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.

So who is paying for the NHS service? Who is the somebody else?

LizzieDrip

^The law needs to be looked at again^

Write to your MP Allira.

🤔

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.

growstuff

*The law needs to be looked at again.*

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

Indeed.

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.

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!

The law needs to be looked at again.

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

The law needs to be looked at again

Write to your MP Allira.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.