AIBU to be cross about school dismissing my daughter's severe periods?

Well you will be fobbed off if you want a quick appointment as there isn’t one.

My daughter vomits with the pain. Either girls should be given time off or they should be able to carry medication whilst waiting for gynaecology treatment . It’s humiliating asking for meds for periods, an invasion of privacy and an added hassle when doubled up in agony.

The NHS target for non-urgent consultant-led gynaecology treatment is 18 weeks. However, due to severe backlogs, average waiting times for gynaecology are significantly longer.
Current wait times generally break down as follows:
Initial Consultation: An average of 27 weeks (some hospital trusts report waits up to 55 weeks).
Treatment/Surgery following consultation: An average of 38 weeks.
Total Wait Time: The average total time from GP referral to treatment is approximately 65 weeks.

Not for the healthcare plan.

Gynaecologist waits are insanely long.

"No, the health care plan would include access to medication as agreed, stored, signed for etc"

As opposed to this parent who is surreptitiously giving ( unprescribed?) medication to her daughter to keep in her school bag then complaining when the school confiscates it for safeguarding reasons....

My friends daughter used to go to school with a strip of ibuprofen tucked into her bra but that isn’t the issue.
You need to get your daughter seen by a gynaecologist for proper management as it must be awful for her every month knowing how ill she is going to be.
With periods like these she is likely to become anaemic which is an extra problem as well as awful mood swings.

And should not be doing without the appropriate training in any case.

I’m so sorry she’s going through this. They’re bang out of order. There’s this prevailing notion that when girls start their periods its all light - just look at teenage period product packaging? All butterflies and tiny pads. For me it was horrifically heavy with clots as bad as I have now in perimenopause. It really annoys me and they need to grow up. Heavy period pants are visible too in the leggings / school uniform they like to wear. I think the first thing is to get a GP letter of diagnosis and sit down with the school. It’s so sad that girls pain and suffering is brushed off like this.

Stop telling them it’s periods then. Say it’s recurrent abdominal pain and vomiting/migraine. If they say ‘isn’t it her period’ say ‘no otherwise it would be better after ibuprofen like you said so it must be something else’.

Yeah you'll need to be firm with the GP & ask for a different GP if you don't leave feeling listened to and with a hospital referral pending. don't be fobbed off. Say you want referral to gynaecology specialist etc. Over-exaggerate every symptom she has so they take it seriously . Also complain in writing to the head teacher/governors and say you are waiting for a referral but that you don't expect your DD to be treated this way and have her symptoms minimalised like this.

And crucially: "Any member of school staff may be asked to provide support to pupils with medical conditions, including the administering of medicines, although they cannot be required to do so."

The problem is that the schools (I’m not in the 🇬🇧) are riddled with bureaucracy and compliance and it’s quite often not their own policy, it’s one from the region/higher up. Our school recently hired a full time compliance officer and it’s honestly a nightmare with all the paperwork that is now required - but I like my job so I’m not going to “make allowances”… (though we don’t do bag checks, that seems invasive)
The school have said periods are not a reason to miss school - this (in the majority of cases) is true. There are always exceptions to every policy and for students that are the exceptions then they need paperwork to support this. At the moment you have a daughter that has periods that you say are bad but no medical paperwork supports this. I believe you, the school most likely believes you, but they need the paperwork to justify the policy exception and to allow the medication.
Your priority should be seeing a better GP/gynaecologist and getting a proper diagnosis and treatment plan in place, have them write a letter covering treatment, medication and what protocol to follow should student present to office unwell - this can then be passed along to the school.

For there to be a medical condition, there must first be a diagnosis. There isn't any diagnosis.

The document you link: "In making decisions about the support they provide, schools should establish relationships with relevant local health services to help them. It is crucial that schools receive and fully consider advice from healthcare professionals."

In the OP's case, no advice from healthcare professionals has been provided.

Also from the document you shared: " Local authorities should work with schools to support pupils with medical conditions to attend full-time. Where pupils would not receive a suitable education in a mainstream school because of their health needs, the local authority has a duty to make other arrangements."

No, the health care plan would include access to medication as agreed, stored, signed for etc.

As far as the school’s hands been tied, I’m not so sure. (See photo showing text from the DfE guidance. The plan can be about the known rather than what we are still to find out, but adapting again if we do.

The healthcare plan allows for all parties to work together too, problem solving through adaptations so that the pupil accesses the education she is entitled to.

I just want to pick up on something in your post. Schools don't have "medical teams". They have a bunch of random staff, often without anything more than GCSEs as their qualifications, who have first aid qualifications. School staff are not qualified to diagnose or treat illnesses. The others are right - it is your doctor who needs to do that. Your anger should not be towards the school, but towards whatever medical professionals you've seen who've refused to help your daughter.

Disgraceful attitude from the school. If it was boys having these sort of issues,you could guarantee that they'd be bending over backwards to make allowances.

Please don’t agree to put her on the pill, it will only mask it slightly and she will have to deal with it on her own in the future. Be her advocate now, push for a referral to a gynaecologist. If you’re able to get diagnosis you will help her in the long run, in regards to protected disabilities in the workplace and it will also sort the current school issue. This likely isn’t an issue that is going away.

"There is a legal requirement for all pupils to have access to an education including support for medical conditions"

Well support for medical conditions would not include allowing a pupil to keep medication in the bag they have not been prescribed, nor can they reasonable be expected to exceed their remit and make allowances or treat conditions in excess of those diagnosed by health professionals.

The problem here is that the GP has apparently has not yet treated the pupil effectively or given her suitable prescriptions and until this happens the school's hands are tied

There is a legal requirement for all pupils to have access to an education including support for medical conditions which impact on access to education, attendance etc. Adaptations to meet need.

This is a duty of the governing board/trustees.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf

The OP has medical already sought medical advice and will have health records. A diagnosis is not necessary with the healthcare plan in place through any process of diagnosis, change in condition etc

That’s absolutely terrible of the school and I would be writing to the board or whoever if in charge. How can they be so uncaring and rigid?!
DD also has awful periods and can be off for 2/3 days at a time but I literally email the secretary and she marks her out and sympathises.
I’ve had to pick her up numerous times and they never say a word.
We have a GP appt when we get back from holiday to start the pill. She’s taking tablets just now to stop her period while we are away
DD also takes tablets to school. Never heard of a school not allowing medicine to be carried if they should need it.
That school needs to give its head a wobble.

We were allowed to fill in a form for medications to be stored and handed out at discretion of the school nurse. I think a lot of schools no longer have a school nurse.

I posted earlier OP about my dd and the mef. Acid and pill. It took some time to get the regimen successful, so I would try again sooner rather than later.

Also, and I appreciate this can be hard for a young girl, but try and get her to spell it out to the dr herself and advocate for her own health.
When my small statured 15 yr old was prepared to tell an older male GP about her bleed throughs we started to make some progress. I think he realised that if she was back yet again and that her need for help overcame her embarrassment, then she was really suffering and it was time to rule out significant problems.

"What is the thinking behind this practice?"

Complying with government legislation, which a previous poster linked to.

Or like other posters you can ignore that and simply label it as misogyny on the school part, I suppose

Some children can manage meds safely but there are many that do not - see poster above who works with this age group. Therefore there is statutory guidance in place to cover medical needs in schools. This then informs school policy. All policies should be available on school website to view and explain to parents what steps to take if your child has medical needs.

This would still require evidence of the medical condition, symptoms, treatment plan, emergency response protocols etc.

I agree however that should try and put something in place as an interim measure in the meantime.

EpiPens and Asthma are inhalers are emergency medications that need to be administered immediately and are potentially lifesaving.

As horrible as excruciating periods are (mine weren't fun and my daughter is currently being tested for endo) having to walk a couple of minutes to the medical room to access pain relief isn't going to kill anyone.