A mother has accused the National Health Service of “shocking discrimination" after her son was seemingly denied vital treatment because he attends private school.
The parent said the alleged “Orwellian” treatment of her eight-year-old child was a blatant breach of the health service ethos of offering equal treatment for all.
Other trusts have also reportedly refused occupational therapy treatment to children because they attend fee-paying establishments.
She blamed Labour's VAT raid on private school fees for emboldening NHS managers to allegedly deny her son help with his crippling joint condition.
The mother told The Mail on Sunday: “If you discriminate against children because of the school they went to, where does it end?”
The son, who attends a Kew prep school, was reportedly referred to a paediatrician at Kingston Hospital, south-west London.
Her mother noticed he was “struggling to hold the pen well enough to write properly”, as well as mobility issues.
During a hospital appointment, the mother was asked to fill in a form which asked: “Where does your child go to school?”
Days later, the mother was said to have received a text saying a meeting with occupational health therapists at the Ham Clinic in Richmond had been “declined”.
Following this, the mother claimed the specialist unit had written a letter to her GP, which said they were “only commissioned to provide a service to the mainstream schools”.
It reportedly read: “We are unable to see this child as we do not provide a service to school age children who attend independent schools.”
However, the boy's older brother – who also has hypermobility syndrome – had reportedly been treated without issue several years earlier.
Their mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, 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 woman, who runs a small business with her husband, said the rejection was part of an “anti-private school zeitgeist”.
She added: “Labour's dislike of independent schools is filtering down into the NHS and that is very damaging.
“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.”
Neil O'Brien, Conservative MP and shadow schools minister, said that the cases “seem like incredibly unfair discrimination”.
He said: “How can it be right that children with disabilities are denied services by the NHS because they attend a certain school?”
We must not allow this quasi-Marxist class war to take root in our public institutions
Shadow equalities minister Saqib Bhatti added: “We must not allow this quasi-Marxist class war to take root in our public institutions and certainly not in our NHS.”
And Greg Stafford, a Tory member of the Health and Social Care Committee, commented: “Care should be based on clinical need, not a postcode or a parent's school choice.”
There were 582,477 pupils in independent schools in January, around 11,000 less than the same point last year, official figures show.
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.”
