to think the Education Welfare Officer asking for an GP appoinment card every time dd has a virus is unrealistic, when GP has just said I am wasting their time.

[piratecat]

Where do I go from here.

The EWO has to do their job, i have to prove dd was unwell so as not to get an unauthorised absence mark.

Yes dd has had alot of other health issues, hospital appointments etc, which are easy to 'prove' as such. Yet the EWO as i said wants a copy of an appointment card, for any time off.

I took dd to gp today, as today is the day dd is ill. Lucky i got an appointment, but the GP on duty is now going to speak to my actual gp, to sort this out. I have also requested for a phone call from our gp when she does her phonecalls tomorrow afternoon.

Last time i spoke to my actual gp, she said they can't write notes for kids, fair enough, totally correct when it comes to bugs.

Duty doctor said i was wasting his time bringing dd in, just to say look she has a virus.
I agree, and would not have bothered him today.
I feel torn really, and the system is just not working.

rant rant rant.

I know it doesn't help the OP, but if your child is poorly enough to see a GP or nurse, you can just ask the receptionist to give you an appointment slip when you get there. I think all GP surgeries have slips/cards/memos that they will write the date and time on for you, even if it is on the way out from your appointment. This could then be taken into school the next day.

When my kid's teacher said this to me, I pointed out that it is a waste of a GP's time and I wouldn't do it. She didn't bring it up again.

big round of applause to Mr Gove for bringing in his fantastic new reforms on unauthorised absence and tying absent days in to school performance assessments. oh how I love him. so the wonderful unexpected consequence of this is that people who have a genuinely sick child to worry about also have to worry about getting a sick note from their gp. the ewo have a go at the easiest targets - responsible parents who will get the note. they do damn all about the parents whose kids miss days and days every week for no reason other than they cant be arsed to get them in to school. give it a year. lets see how the number of absent days has changed. oh that's right they wont have done. every time I read stuff like this I dislike Mr Gove even more (if that's possible)

I'd be tempted to tell EWO that you will write a letter of consent for them to consult with GP surgery to find a way forward

Explain that you will not be trapped in the middle of this political game that's being played and you will not be wasting GPs or nurses time when you are capable of dealing with illness at home.

Nothing much either the school or EWO can do, they are only doing what they are told to do. You need to write to your MP as this is a national issue up and down the country which puts extra pressure on NHS and GP's at a time when they are already stretched. There needs to be a national focus on this.

We have this with my gd. She has a low immune system stemming from when she had meningitis. She catches anything going. D in l is called in by the school each time she is off. The school does not seem to realise that you cannot take a child to the drs with D & V every time. Nor will the drs write notes for the school. The school has been told that they can ring the drs to confirm medical history and dr says he will talk to them, but they never do. Gd often goes when she is not well and then of course picks up something else. When children are not well they cannot learn properly any way so it somewhat defeats the reasoning behind unauthorised absences.

Why the hell should a sick child be dragged out just to satisfy the EWO?

Utter nonsense.

Where we are, the child is deemed to have missed half a day if they are 10 minutes late to school
same here

At our school, sickness absence is often assumed to be malingering. Likewise at many workplaces of course.

We had same problem as dd has had up to 50% time off school and currently been off for 4 months, no days in school at all last term. Threatened with prosecution and everything. Called EWO and she popped round, took my signed letter of consent and now deals with GP direct. Phew. But total crap

ah, hi all.

what a stink of system eh. no wonder the gp was annoyed today.

i will write to the EWO, and include a letter allowing her to access my gp.

She did verbally ask me last year could she contact my gp, i said go ahead.
I don't think she ever did ,it was just a tactic. Scaremongering one.

I will explain that i am not taking dd to gp who doesn't want to see her for self limiting viral infections.

The surgery was jam packed, and i have no doubt there were many germs ready to pick up. x

I am quite shocked at people on this thread.

Are none of you aware that once a child reaches 12, they are legally gillick competent.

You could all parents and professionals be in a great deal of trouble at a late stage if you have been breaking data protection along with a string of human rights of the children by information sharing and handing around a child's private medical information without their knowledge and consent.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Are none of you aware that once a child reaches 12, they are legally gillick competent.

1. That statement is untrue
2. If you knew anything about Gillick competence you'd also know that it's now called Fraser Guidelines
3. What is the relevance of this to the thread anyway?

At my GP's surgery (densely populated area of a city), you can only get same day appointments if it is an emergency. Usually if you ring on, say, Monday, the earliest standard appointment you can get is Friday - by which time the child is normally better and back at school.

If any of the schools round here started trying to insist on GP notes for illness, it would be completely unworkable. Not to mention the fact that GPs specifically ask you to avoid going to the surgery if you have something like norovirus (and also with things like the swine flu a few years ago).

I can't offer any advice, but I would also be challenging the EWO about the impracticality of the demand.

That's ridiculous - you can share medical info about children under 16 without their consent if under 16. Children over 12 can access medical help.

I was under the impression from the courts social workers for children, CAFCASS that once a child is 12, the child has to give the parent permission to share or view their data.

Its a completely different area. I suggest you don't apply CAFCASS rules to this.

Children should be at school.
Sick children need to be at home.
GPs do not have the time to write notes for poorly children.
Most poorly children are better off at home.

Bonkers! Can GP contact EWO?
I'd be sorely tempted to send in a vomit sample! Perhaps they'd like that kind of physical proof. Could they test it to identify exact virus and put that on their forms!?

Doesn't apply in this case either because if you read the op the child is under 12 in anycase.

the receptionist should be able to provide an appointment card - mine print them on stickers for example so I would create a little record book and stick them in for each appointment.

My son was sent home from school at around lunchtime on a friday, the teacher who called me to tell me they wanted to send him home said that I needed to take him to the GP so as to satisfy EWO if/when records were checked.

He didn't need to see a doctor, he needed to come home, take some paracetamol and go to bed. Also, the likelihood of getting an appt that day was low.

It is ridiculous. The fact that the school saw he was unwell and decided that going home was the best idea makes it even more ridiculous.

the receptionist did provide the appt card.

the point about the gp is that i went to the appointment.

The EWo wants an appointment card.

the gp doesn't want me to make an appointment for a virus.

I'll speak to my own gp tomorrow. This particular gp today might be more pissed off than mine. Yet mine wasn't working to day so i had no choice in who i saw.

Hmm, does the EWO realise she is wasting NHS time and the GP already has a queue of genuinely ill people fighting to get an appointment, without them being clogged up with every child who has a virus?

This drives my GP mates nuts. Nobody gave them extra funding or appointment slots to cover this work, it was just assumed that they would do it. Infuriating for you, your DD and your GP and totally pointless.

dd's school demands a GP note for any day that she is not well, but last term she had a cough and a cold and a sore throat i told the HOY that i wasn't taking her to sit around with a load of pensioners waiting for their flu jab, in the 'interests of public health'.(our gp operates an open appointment system)
did not hear back from her after that message.....

Some GPs do go along with it as they haven't the energy to fight. My mates are a bit more stroppy and will tell the school/EWO they'll do it when they get their fee - not one has ever heard back.

FFS adults are able to self-certify for 1 week.