Question about excema treatment in school

[texasrose]

Hi,
A question for mums of school age kids with excema -
Have any of you faced a problem with your child's excema treatment being administered in their school? Sorry if this is a bit rambling but I'll do my best to make sense!
Our dd has severe excema and she goes to the local nursery which is attached to the local primary. Today her new term started and between now and christmas she is going every morning from 9 till 12. After Christmas she'll be going to school all day.
Last week we saw our GP who said that dd needs her 50/50 cream mid-morning. He wrote a letter for me to give to the nursey staff saying this. The problem is that when I spoke to the staff this morning they said that the school's policy is that they are not allowed to cream dd because of their child protection policy (i.e. they are not allowed to touch her).
At a stretch dd can got for 3 hours without the cream but ideally she needs it every 2 hours. So as long as she doesn't have any major flare-ups we should hopefully be okay until Christmas but I am panicking about how we're going to manage after that. What's been suggested to me is that I come in each lunchtime to cream her myself at school. The problem is that I work and I would probably have to give up my job to be able to do that...eeek!
Have any of you faced this kind of situation? Do you think I'm stressing out over nothing? Or how do you think I should approach the staff in order to get the best result for dd? I'd really appreciate any feedback or ideas.
Thanks a million!

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

[texasrose]

Hi,
thanks for your message. Can i ask was it just a problem when your dd was in nursery? How did it resolve itself as she got older?
I'm going to try to talk to the teachers this afternoon when they've got a bit more time. Thanks again!

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

[hana]

have had this at my school - the girl applied the cream herself but was supervised when doing so - she was a bit older but had special needs. I can't see how a school can refuse esp if you write a letter giving them permission

[texasrose]

hi again,
I had a meeting with the nursery teachers yesterday. They said that the problem is that from the point of view of child protection and of protecting themselves against allegations of abuse, they are not allowed to be alone with a child while that child is naked or semi-naked (and I think the same applies if there are two adults present). I asked about assigning a 'key worker' to manage dd's excema but the answer was pretty much no. So...the options are:
a) cream her at 8.45 and then wait until 3.15 to cream her again, immediately before and after school (this was suggested by her main teacher)
b) teach her to cream herself alone in a loo at lunchtime
c) pay someone (a childminder) to go into the school at lunchtime and cream her.
Hmmm...well option a would be disastrous for her skin, option b is just about possible but not ideal, and option c is expensive and quite disruptive to dd's school day. What do any of you think? At the back of my mind is lurking the fact that if we really can't get her looked after properly with a skin management plan in school, we'll have to find a new school for her. But that's really disruptive and she's happy at school. Her excema really is quite severe and we can't afford to let it slide because the poor mite won't be able to sleep for itching if it gets bad and going by past experience she'll stop eating and get really quite ill. It can totally take over her life if it's not looked after all the time, every day. I'm imaginig worst-case scenario but it has got that bad a number of times in the past so I'm speaking from experience. What do you think I should do short of changing her school or giving up my job? (although I'd do either of those if it meant safeguarding her health). Answers on a postcard please!!!

[3littlefrogs]

Surely she has "special needs" and therefore is entitled to have those needs met / be integrated into mainstream education etc etc. isn't that what the government is always banging on about? Have you written to the Local Education Authority? Honestly it is ridiculous - poor little soul. What happens to children who have epilepsy - are the staff not allowed to touch them if they are convulsing? That is - better to let the child choke than lay a hand on them?