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?'
So parents, you know what to do now - lie. or cross out the question and write 'none of your business'. But of course, she didn't because we are all conditioned to fill in these forms to feed the hungry bureacracy of the sainted NHS, aren't we?
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.'
And plenty of Tory MPs have lined up to hoof the ball into this open goal, but not one Labour MP dared say anything.
The boy's older brother – who has the same condition, hypermobility syndrome – had been treated without issue several years earlier.
They needed the time to get up their courage to do this, clearly.
'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.'
It doesn't, but they are clearly now emboldened to do so, because this isn't an isolated incident:
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.'
Notice no-one is offering her the percentage of her taxes that pays for the NHS or comprehensive education back?
The Mail on Sunday understands that other NHS trusts have also refused occupational therapy treatment to children because they attend independent schools.
I thought I hated the NHS bastards enough...turns out I was wrong!
