Inhaler shared at sports club

[tamabarrel]

Have NC for this.

My child’s reliever inhaler was shared with another child at training (non school) yesterday.

A coach of another squad approached my child’s squad and asked for an inhaler for a member of their squad to use.

The child requiring the inhaler was not having an attack as such, required one puff, was thankfully fine, and was then able to participate. Children involved are early secondary.

I’m concerned about this for several reasons. Surely the coaches have a duty of care to ensure that pupils requiring emergency medication have it with them (obviously the parents and child should have ensured the inhaler was with the child). Lack of asthma training is a concern - looking at club policies, there is no reference to this. Prescribed medication being shared is a concern.

Would you contact the club regarding this?

I wouldn't have a problem with this. The risk of a mild attack turning serious very quickly, versus the risk of maybe transferring a cold or germs by sharing an inhaler in an emergency? I don't think there is much risk in giving a blue inhaler puff to someone who doesn't need it.

As a child I let a friend use my blue inhaler in the playground because he was having an attack and he'd forgotten his. I got in trouble with the teachers and always felt aggrieved - he needed help and I had the solution.

The idea of emergency inhalers is an interesting one.

It’s practical in a school setting, where they can be kept in a medical cupboard.

But within a sports club, where there are dozens of teams training across multiple sites I’m not sure how it would work.

Given the concerning availability of inhales PPs have mentioned, I doubt there are the resources to supply multiple inhalers to sports clubs.

Yes, most would use someone else’s / offer their inhaler in an emergency, but what if there are no other children with asthma, except the one who has forgotten their inhaler and is having an attack?

Therefore, the only logical (and safe) solution is to stringently enforce the ‘no inhaler no play’ rule.

No inhaler no play is also the best policy for the children. The riskiest age for dying from asthma when it was preventable is 15-17.

It has to be drummed into children that they must carry their inhaler because it’s dangerous not to do so, and that not having it has day-to-day consequences like not being able to participate in a sport.

This will become more and more important as we move away from the preventer inhaler and separate ventolin/salbutamol reliever inhaler into everyone having one combo inhaler.

It’s possible the club won’t agree to carry a spare inhaler as it may make them liable if they happen to forget the spares.

I had an issue like this with kids school. DC (teens) carry inhalers with them, usually in their schoolbags. I handed in spares to the school office in case they ever happened to forget them. They get exercise induced asthma and as school sports pitches are a 10 min walk away from the classrooms I asked if the PE teacher could have a spare inhaler his/her bag just in case.

School said no.
Teacher will mind an inhaler if it’s given to them at the start of a game but that’s all they will do. I keep reminding DC to carry inhalers with them always and have told them if they forget to bring the inhaler then they are not allowed take part in any sports, but it still worries me.