to think that head lice treatment should be free?

[mummycake]

Hi all I work in a primary school within an area classed as deprived.
I teach a group of 30 6/7 year old children and they are all a delight to teach. However there are some children there whos heads are literally crawling with head lice- so much so that they often fall into their work and some children scratch their heads so much it leads to bleeding, scabs and discomfort which sometimes affects their concentration and work as well as their self esteem.
We have one or two children who always seem to have them whilst the majority of the children are treated almost daily by their parents who literally spend a fortune on treatments only to find their children then promptly pick them up by being near other children whilst at school.
I often think if the treatments were free then more parents would use them. I am not saying children who live in deprived areas are more at risk of getting headlice I am just giving the background to my own current experience as very often the mothers are desperate to treat their children but can't afford the pharmacy prices.
And whilst we are on the subject should the '' nit-nurse'' be brought back?

We arent allowed to send children home or send individual children letters if we notice them in their head. Instead the whole class has to receive a letter saying a case of head lice has been reported in class. We are not even able to take to the parents directly either.

lol a busy shop...although a bust shop might have pleased him!!

I don't really understand the reasoning behind not being able to tell individual parents that their DCs have nits and need to be treated. It seems a very odd rule.

You can't send them home?

What if they were to bump their head? Could you send them home then?

Not sending them home is the reason that headlice is endemic in your school.

You can send them home for illness and head bumps but not for headlice- I have worked in 3 schools and none could do this

toccat next time use the conditioner method and save yourself a fortune.

A good regular combing through with conditioner will keep lice away.

you don't need special stuff - just cheap conditioner and a nitty gritty comb

comb wouldn't have done it - even the nitty gritty I still had to sit and pick the suffocated ones out with my fingers later.

The first time they've ever had them - and I'd been really crap and not noticed them scratching - was only when I took them to get their hair cut I found that they were infested with them .

barrykent this is the village chemist and it wouldn't be practical to change as I don't drive. The pharmiscist would need to see the child before giving out anything on prescription. Which I was quite annoyed about when DS need pain relief after a minor operation. They wanted me to take him up there despite the fact he was recovering from a general aneasthetic the previous day - in the end I just paid for the pain relief rather than take him up.

Which rather defeats the purpose of the scheme.

DD had these recently and it makes me scratch just thinking about the horrible little things.

I'm sorry but there needs to be a serious rethink about how this is dealt with in school. I just dont understand the logic in why individual parents cannot be approached about an infestation, and why children cannot be sent home because of it. If they had conjunctivitis or chicken pox they would not be allowed in school, so why are they allowed with head lice? All three conditions are contagious, unpleasant and treatable.
perhaps if kids had to be kept off school, their parents would be forced to do something about it.
Its high time common sense prevailed!

mummycake that is so awful, poor child

I had all 3 with it, all of which have long hair,I asked my GP for a Nitty Gritty comb(blank look),said they were definitely not on the NHS. I even took in the thing you can print off.

I then spent £20 on 2 as it was taking dp and I hours with 1 comb. They then constantly got re-infected and it was affecting their schoolwork as we literally didn't have time to read due to combing. So in desperation I bought some Hedrin at £10 a bottle X 3(tiny bottles and you have to soak the hair twice) anyway it did the job. The other stuff nits get used to, Hedrin works by suffocating not pesticides.

A month later re-infected,the dc were then getting homework as well as reading so we literally couldn't spend hours combing so we needed Hedrin. Went to the Gp who grudgingly gave us a prescription for one tiny bottle after I begged for it.We decided to do DD as her hair is the longest and thickest and combed the boys-finally we're nit free!!!!!

I think it should be free and I think kids should be banned from school until it's treated like they used to be. Nothing like kids kicking under your feet to get parents to do what they should be doing. Some parents are very selfish and have no problem with continually re-infecting classes.

Some parents get prescriptions free,I don't and when you have 3 dc I literally don't have the money to keep shelling out on Hedrin. It's very unfair and I think more needs to be done about it-it makes kids feel lousy(pardon the pun)and they can't concentrate due to the scratching.

I tried to get it free from my chemist who looked at me as if I was mad and told me to buy it.

I'd read you had to take along a headlice sellotaped to a bit of paper to get it, so I'd done that and put it in my handbag. Luckily I didn't actually get it out, or I think she'd have called the police.

MilaMae It's not you that needs to be eligible for free prescriptions...your DC will be by virtue of being under 16.

Ask in your local chemist for a leaflet.
that's the link for Scottish Scheme but I am assuming the Englsih would be similar

I said it was the dc and had all 3 scratching madly in front of her-zilch. My Gp was exactly the same re the combs but grudgingly agreed to 1 prescription for dd after I nearly broke down sobbing. Was v when I got to the chemist and 1 measly tiny bottle was handed over,not even the biggest size!!!!

I don't think England is as organised as Scotland on this.

That's a real shame...you would think it would make sense to have a standard protocol countrywide for something like this.

On the other hand my sister will pay for headlice treatments for 3 children because she is too to go stand in village chemist and be served by someone who lives locally!!

To answer the OP, I don't think it should be free. Families need to stand on their own two feet and not expect someone else to pay.

The main cost of treating headlice is regular combing - it costs very little to do this once you have a comb and some conditioner.

No amount of 'free' treatment will make lazy families use it properly.

Here we cant get it on prescription, if my daughter gets them then we just have to buy the stuff and treat it. OTherwise we comb regularly and use conditioner on her hair.

hello! I can't NOT post on this thread! (look at my name)

I am in the camp of those who think it is ridiculous that teachers are NOt allowed to tell parents if they spot lice on their child.against their human rights my ar*e - had I had a busy week and not checked and missed something i would WANT to be told.
they shoudl be sent home for breaking the rule on "no pets to be brought into school grounds". there is a child in DD1s class who regularly takes live ones off his head and has them running about on the desk playing with them!!!

Why can we not have an opt in clause to sign on our school contact form saying "I give permission for my child to be sent home/me to be informed if the teacher sees headlice" or something.most people I know would go for this!

Sadly headlice are not seen as a serious enough issue, despite the fact that having them long term can be debilitating, uncomfy and make one feel "absolutely lousy" - the original meaning of the word, along with the social stigma of other kids knowing and avoiding or taunting the child in question

No parent should be treating with pesticide on a regular basis though - not good for the child and the lice can beconme resistant to specific preparations

far better to just groom carefully 2 or 3 times a week with conditioner on wet hair, prevention is better than cure. this way lice are removed before they are big enough to reproduce and/or adult lice picked up that day are damaged or removed before eggs are laid

tea tree oil applied neat on a comb, or in a spray bottle with water is a great deterent, as is eating lots of garlic. tea tree in shampoos and conditioners need not be expensive - tesco do one, or buy the cheapest conditioner you can find and add some neat tea tree oil to it

and ALL schools have their families who are never treated. they did when i was at school 30 years ago, when i was teaching 15 yrs ago, and still do now. And they are just as prevalent in posh boarding schools as they are in deprived inner city schools, though it may be true that some parents cannot afford treatments, and others lack the intelligence to know what to do. some just cannot be bothered.

dont wait for the letter home, check your Dc regularly anyway!

oh and I agree with MMe blueberry - free treatment will be seen by some as an easy option, when a bit of time invested in prevention would be far better for their DCs

We can get it free here in Scotland - you just have to register for the minor ailments service at your local pharmacy.

well I never comb/brush my DS's hair...........last week was the first time I'd combed their hair (at all) for ermm, years.

How about an opt out instead of opt in on the school contact form? Hedrin is the only thing that works here too, I think it should be free as well.