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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

School opening windows and cold triggering asthma

96 replies

Burnt0utMum · 06/01/2022 12:03

Got myself in a bit of a panic over this and don't want to act irrationally. Kids have only just gone back to school today and we've had a message about 11am asking that children are sent in a jumper or cardigan to school as they will be having the windows open due to covid guidance. DS is in year 1 and has been hospitalised twice in the past couple of months with difficulty breathing. He is on an asthma plan now and we believe the cold to be the main trigger for the attacks. I'm in the process of getting him a blue inhaler to be kept in school but prescriptions seem to be so slow at the moment so right now he doesn't have an inhaler at school. I am panicking that he could get very ill again today as it's freezing and has been snowing. I've asked the school to keep a close eye on him but I'm still concerned. AIBU? Is it fair to keep him in the cold despite the harm it can cause him? They told be he can wear extra layers if needed but the trigger is actually breathing in the cold air so layers is beside the point.

OP posts:

Maddiemoosmum0203 · 06/01/2022 14:03

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

shortterm · 06/01/2022 14:34

Agree with needing an inhaler at school, home, spare etc.

But also with each inhaler you need a spacer (you can get these free on prescription, but also you can buy them online if you encounter difficulties with getting prescribed more than one).

A child having an asthma attack has much better outcomes breathing the medicine through a spacer at their own rate, rather than it being fired at the back of their mouth/throat/tonsils where much of it just accumulates as powder, never reaching the lungs.

shortterm · 06/01/2022 14:39

There are definitely some supply problems with asthma meds right now, including bog standard ventolin. I sense prescriptions are being rationed, with strange messages on my prescriptions about only needing 2 a year. I think these people underestimate the number of ventolins lost to washing machines, as well as the fact that sometimes the pharmacy dispense some ventolins with surprisingly short use-by dates. I remember a few years ago you could just buy them at the retail price of £7 at Asda without prescription even.

shortterm · 06/01/2022 14:41

*the Asda pharmacy obviously, not off-the-shelf with the groceries!

LittleMG · 06/01/2022 14:42

The school can’t really help it they have to do this they are told to. But this doesn’t help you and your son. I think I’d be keeping him at home until something better can be come up with, being cold is unfortunate but if it’s going to make him seriously ill other arrangements need to be made x

DrMadelineMaxwell · 06/01/2022 15:12

@viques It has been allowed since 2014 for schools to be provided an emergency inhaler in school. You can find .gov advice for england and Wales online and info about it on the asthma UK website.
Whether schools individually have chosen to have one is up to them, which is maybe why you haven't heard of it. And why my above advice was for op to talk to their school to see if this was the case there. Every school in our local authority has one.

Soontobe60 · 06/01/2022 15:24

@DrMadelineMaxwell

Lots of schools have inhalers that they can give to pupils if needed in an emergency. So if your dc has one at home and hasn't got a spare, if you dont want to keep his blue reliever in his bag for them to use, maybe discuss with them whether they have a school inhaler.

Absolutely not the case! There is no way we are allowed to give medication prescribed for one child to another child - even with a parent’s permission!

Jeffreyson · 06/01/2022 16:00

Sorry OP, I can see why you're beside yourself. Poor boy. Quite how learning effectively takes place in such a miserable situation I can't understand, asthma or no asthma. Poor kids. Sorry no advice but I'm glad mine are home educated and don't have to suffer this ordeal (one of mine has asthma too). I hope the weather warms up and this nonsense stops soon. Best wishes OP.

viques · 06/01/2022 16:01

[quote DrMadelineMaxwell]@viques It has been allowed since 2014 for schools to be provided an emergency inhaler in school. You can find .gov advice for england and Wales online and info about it on the asthma UK website.
Whether schools individually have chosen to have one is up to them, which is maybe why you haven't heard of it. And why my above advice was for op to talk to their school to see if this was the case there. Every school in our local authority has one.[/quote]
I stand corrected.

Original poster

Burnt0utMum · 06/01/2022 17:47

@Jeffreyson

Thank you for the lovely comment. I would honestly love to home educate after getting a taste for it during lockdown but unfortunately it wouldn't work out long term around my work.

OP posts:

StationaryMagpie · 06/01/2022 18:07

One of my things is to have several blue inhalers around.. i've always got one in my car, one in my handbag, one by my bedside, and one currently unopened in the cupboard.

my advice is even if he doesn't use all the doses, to make sure you reorder them soon as you're allowed to keep some spare.

As for school, the one he currently has, put it in a clear plastic container label both the inhaler and the box clearly, and it needs to go to school with him, and come home daily. You should be able to hand it over/pick it up at reception daily until the one to keep there comes through.

AuntyMabelandPippin · 06/01/2022 18:25

I work in a school with windows open.

It's only the few children that are next to the window that are cool, most of the rest of them are still trying to get away without their jumpers on!

I'd ask for him to sit the other side of the windows, hopefully that will be enough to sort him out.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 06/01/2022 18:39

Never heard of this. Schools are not allowed to prescribe medication which is essentially what you are doing if you randomly decide a child needs an inhaler

It's not quite like that.

You can order emergency inhalers for use with children who are already known to have asthma as evidenced by an asthma car plan. It means that in the event of an attack, you don't have to leave a kid wheezing or watch them get worse because their one is out of date/empty/on the kitchen table where they left it this morning/Mum hasn't got round to ordering a new one in the last six months.

JustLyra · 06/01/2022 18:44

Please be very careful about where the school intend to keep the blue inhaler.

It should either be in your son’s bag, or in his classroom. Not locked away in the school office - this is the policy of many schools and it’s a stupid and dangerous policy for inhalers and epi-pens.

The inhaler should be close to your child and you should start him young on making sure he knows that the inhaler should go with him when he goes places.

scaredsadandstuck · 06/01/2022 18:54

Hi OP - if you haven't already, it might be helpful to speak to the Asthma UK helpline www.asthma.org.uk/advice/resources/helpline/

twominutesmore · 06/01/2022 19:19

You are right that it is very cold in classrooms. I am a teacher and couldn't wear any more layers. I started today with two windows open but the CO2 monitor kept going off - when it does I have to increase ventilation, so open extra windows and doors. I ended up with everything open, and us all sat in coats. I don't know what the answer is but I do know it's the only bit of protection teachers have - can't distance, can't wfh, no PPE (well masks in public areas).

twominutesmore · 06/01/2022 19:20

Meant to add - kids in my class are wearing vests, thermals, layers. If they want to wear coats in class they can. Some do wear a scarf and pull it up over their chin/mouth. Roll on spring.

ISaidDontLickTheBin · 06/01/2022 19:50

@shortterm

Agree with needing an inhaler at school, home, spare etc.

But also with each inhaler you need a spacer (you can get these free on prescription, but also you can buy them online if you encounter difficulties with getting prescribed more than one).

Yeah you need to request another spacer as a separate prescription or the pharmacy won't give you one with the inhaler.

Or you can buy them on Amazon but they are a bit ££

AtomHeartMotherOfGod · 06/01/2022 19:53

YANBU - asthma needs to be taken seriously; if you are doubting because someone is trying to downplay it, they are not being very helpful.

It is a safeguarding issue to me - not in a melodramatic way but a literal one. I would email the Safeguarding lead (usually Head or Deputy) and raise it.

The snood advice seems good in the meantime - I hope it helps your DS.

CatNamedEaster · 06/01/2022 20:14

Sounds like he needs to be on steroid presenter rather than just using the blue as a reliever. My DS is triggered by cold air too but being on the lowest dose of presenter means that we only have to use the reliever very rarely now, eg if he has a really bad virus.

Agree with pp, ask for prescription of at least 2 spacers so you have one at home too.

CatNamedEaster · 06/01/2022 20:15

Argh preventer not presenter!

CatNamedEaster · 06/01/2022 20:18

Also agree that you need to have a care plan written up. So many people don't present with the most obvious or well known symptoms (DS never has a wheeze so his care plan details exactly what staff need to be aware of), so school need to know triggers and specific signs to spot.

LibrariesGiveUsPower · 06/01/2022 20:53

If no one has said it yet you can buy the blue inhaler over the counter

Newyearoldyou · 06/01/2022 21:05

Op school is or should be set up for isolating children now?
Can't he sit out a few weeks with this really cold weather?

I can't see what else they can do, he can wear a snood thing? But the air will be cold?
I know I've sat in a freezing classroom all day!
The air is freezing!!

I would struggle to risk it right at this precise moment in time!
I've also got a child who has an inhaler and has been hospitalised but touching wood... At the moment she seems to be OK.

Stevenage689 · 06/01/2022 21:33

I'm surprised they even let him into school without the inhaler. We would never let a child in school without it. Far too much risk, especially in a child who has recently been hospitalised.

You need his inhaler to go in to school daily. You need school to have a clear care plan, based off the one from his specialist. You need to raise your concern about the cold, although I'm not sure what can or will be done.

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