Latest news with #KingstonHospital
The Independent
20 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Does the NHS discriminate against children who attend private school?
On the face of it, the idea that the NHS would withhold treatment to a child with special needs because they attended private school is a clear outrage. I say this as someone who went to a state school, whose children are schooled in the state sector, and who supports VAT on school fees. The NHS has, however, flatly denied the Mail on Sunday 's exclusive about it happening, a story about yet another 'two-tier' system operating in Britain – see also justice and policing – which has predictably grown legs, with other such incidents now being reported. 'The story is not true,' the Department of Health & Social Care said in a statement, 'NHS services are free at the point of use to all.' Well, yes, that's the theory – but we'll get to that. '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,' it continued. So what's going on here? Let's run through the story first. I'm going on what has been reported, because the mother wished to remain anonymous – understandably, at a time of polarisation, when nasty social media pile-ons for perceived wrong-think are all too common. We are told that her eight-year-old son was referred to a paediatrician at Kingston Hospital in south-west London after she noticed he was 'struggling to hold the pen well enough to write properly', along with other mobility issues. It was at the hospital that the problems arose. She was asked to fill in a form which included the question: 'Where does your child go to school?' The mother hoped for an appointment at the children's occupational therapy service in Richmond for a crucial part of his assessment. However, days later, she received a text message saying the child had been declined. She claimed the specialist unit wrote a letter to her GP saying that it was 'only commissioned to provide a service' to children in mainstream schools. Point of order: Many children with disabilities don't attend mainstream schools, and some of those who go private do so with funding from local councils because of the gaps in state provision. But let's move on. The website of the Kingston & Richmond NHS Foundation Trust states: 'Children and young people of school age can be referred via their School SENCo [Special Educational Needs Coordinator] for assessment if they attend a state-funded Richmond school and have a Richmond or Kingston address.' A spokesman declined to address claims by the Mail on Sunday that pupils from private schools 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.' Which is about as clear as mud. Nevertheless, he added: 'Occupational therapy services are available to all school-age children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan 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.' Here's where it gets kafkaesque: EHCPs are extraordinarily hard to get, even if you do have mobility issues and struggle to hold a pen. It took us years of exhausting battles to secure one for our eldest, who has autism. You need a battery of assessments to get past first base, often including occupational therapists. It is obviously problematic if you can't get occupational therapy without an EHCP in the first place. By now, you've probably guessed that this appears to be a case of 'heads we win, tails you lose'. Your name's not on the list, you're not getting in for this, that, or any other service you might need. My reading of this story is that it is less about discrimination against private schools than it is yet another case of the NHS using any excuse to say no – and of the horrible bureaucratic hellscape that parents with children with special educational needs and disabilities are thrown into. It is a system that crushes those involved with it. It is like being constantly hit on the head with a sledgehammer while being stretched on a medieval rack. As a family, we've been in the same boat with occupational therapy services: denial of service followed by letters followed by the runaround. At one point, in despair, we went to see our local MP Wes Streeting who is now – ding ding ding! – the health secretary. It doesn't much matter if your child is in the private or the state education system. If they have special needs or disabilities, they and their parents will rapidly come to the conclusion that all the agencies supposed to assist them – the NHS, the local authority, sometimes even the school – are actually against them. That, for me, is the takeaway from this story. It is about a scandalous failure to provide assistance to children who need it. Reform has been repeatedly promised, but we all know that money is tight. Worse still is the fact that bad actors – by which I mean some of the worst local authorities – appear to have the government's ear. Perhaps stories like this will make ministers think twice before listening to them? As for the NHS, it was set up to treat people. It shouldn't matter if your children are schooled publicly or privately. Nor should your postcode play a role. Nor whether or not you have a disability. But the battles I have had to fight in order to overcome what feels like institutional ableism could fill a book. We all pay for the service with our taxes, and we should be able to access necessary treatments. Occupational therapy for a child with mobility issues clearly qualifies, regardless of where they go to school. It really shouldn't be this hard.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Boy, 8, turned away by NHS because he is a private school pupil, amid claims by MPs that Labour's raid on fee-paying schools has triggered 'class war' and 'discrimination' in our public services
An outraged mother has accused the NHS of 'shocking discrimination' after her eight-year-old son was denied vital treatment – just because he goes to private school. Tory MPs described the move as 'morally indefensible' and a symptom of Labour's 'vile class war', while the parent attacked the unfair 'two-tier' decision as a blatant breach of the health service ethos of offering equal treatment for all. Yet her case is just one example of private pupils being refused access to NHS services unearthed by The Mail on Sunday. The mother of the eight-year-old blamed Labour's war on private schools for emboldening NHS managers to deny her child help with his crippling joint condition. 'If you discriminate against children because of the school they went to, where does it end?,' she asked. Her son was referred to a paediatrician at Kingston Hospital in south-west London after she noticed he was 'struggling to hold the pen well enough to write properly', along with other mobility issues. At the hospital appointment she was asked to fill in a form which asked: 'Where does your child go to school?' And days later, she received a text message saying the child had been 'declined' the crucial next appointment with occupational health therapists. She then discovered that the specialist unit had written a letter to her GP saying: 'We are unable to see this child as we do not provide a service to school age children who attend an independent schools [sic]. We are only commissioned to provide a service to the mainstream schools.' The boy's older brother – who has the same condition, hypermobility syndrome – had been treated without issue several years earlier. Their mother, who wishes to remain anonymous while her son's case is 'in limbo', said: 'I have never been refused treatment for my children – until now. There is clearly a two-tier system at play. 'I have complained bitterly and asked who created these eligibility criteria and where it says in the NHS constitution that it's OK to discriminate against independent schoolchildren.' The mother of an autistic girl in Somerset told this newspaper her daughter was denied access to NHS mental health services, and was told: 'If you can afford the school fees, you should pay privately. If you had kept your child at the local authority primary school, she would have been supported.' It is understood that in Norfolk a child was refused a much-needed standing frame by the NHS because he went to private school. And last month we revealed how young cancer patients from private schools had to pay £115 an hour for tutoring in an Edinburgh hospital's wards, while it is provided free to state school pupils by the city council. Shadow schools minister Neil O'Brien said last night that the cases 'seem like incredibly unfair discrimination'. Citing Chancellor Rachel Reeves' decision to slap VAT on school fees, he said: 'Labour are already piling extra taxes on independent school parents. For their children to then be denied vital NHS services, which parents already paid for through their taxes, seems completely unfair. How can it be right that children with disabilities are denied services by the NHS because they attend a certain school?' Shadow equalities minister Saqib Bhatti said: 'This is shocking. No child should be penalised based on what school they go to. 'Ultimately, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson's vindictive attack on independent schools has legitimised this kind of pernicious discrimination and triggered a class war against our children. 'Now it falls to the Health Secretary to urgently review NHS policies to ensure nobody is denied access to healthcare, no matter what their background. 'We must not allow this quasi-Marxist class war to take root in our public institutions and certainly not in our NHS.' Shadow paymaster general Richard Holden added: 'The effect of front-rank Labour politicians targeting their vile class war on children who attend independent schools is brought into sharp relief by actions like this – where kids who need help are denied local NHS services. 'This culture of hate that Labour stoke out of perverse class envy has profound consequences for those in both state and independent schools but it'll always be the most vulnerable who suffer the most.' And Tory MP Greg Stafford, a member of the Commons' health and social care committee, said: 'Denying NHS treatment to a child because of the school they attend is morally indefensible and completely at odds with the founding principles of the health service. Care should be based on clinical need, not a postcode or a parent's school choice. This decision must be reversed – and fast!' The Mail on Sunday understands that other NHS trusts have also refused occupational therapy treatment to children because they attend independent schools. The eight-year-old, who attends a prep school in Kew, was denied an appointment with Richmond children's occupational therapy service that would have been the 'most important stage' of his assessment. It would have pinpointed the severity of symptoms – which include painful and easily dislocated joints and even problems with internal organs – and determined his future care. At its most debilitating, hypermobility syndrome can be classed as a disability, and experts say a specialist assessment is vital for children with the condition to prevent more serious issues. Physiotherapist Deepa Subramaniyan, a specialist in hypermobility at Adelaide Children's Physio clinic in London said long-term effects 'can include such severe mobility issues that a child can end up in a wheelchair. 'It's precisely for this reason that they need specialist assessment to determine how they should be treated. The earlier therapy starts, the better it will be in the long run.' When the mother received the notice that her son would not be seen by therapists at the unit – based at Ham Clinic and part of Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust – she said: 'I knew straight away something wasn't right because we have used this service before. 'At the hospital I was asked "Where does your child go to school?" I've never been asked that before. It was never relevant so why is it relevant now? The only thing that has changed is a new government. It is Orwellian.' The woman, who runs a small business with her husband, says the denial of an appointment was part of an 'anti-private school zeitgeist'. Branding her son's treatment as 'shocking and blatant discrimination', she added: 'Labour's dislike of independent schools is filtering down into the NHS and that is very damaging. 'The NHS has always been such a beacon of treatment for all. If you discriminate against children because of the school they went to, where does it end? 'In cases like my son's, they are effectively discriminating against children who are disabled and against some of the most vulnerable members of society. This is going to affect a lot of children if it is a new NHS protocol. Many people will not want to send their children to independent schools if it means foregoing NHS treatment.' Such an exodus would follow the record 11,000 pupils who have left the sector since Labour introduced VAT on fees in January. The woman added: 'I genuinely despair at what is happening. It's the demolition of the British private school system It feels like an ideological battle is going on.' The website of her local NHS Trust says children's occupational therapy services are offered to 'all school aged children who are residents in the Richmond or Kingston boroughs and attend a state-maintained Richmond school.' A spokesman declined 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.'
