School nurse service

[Tempusfudgeit]

I've just informed my LA of my intention to Home Educate my 5 year old. I received a letter inviting me to register with the school nursing service as my child is now at an 'alternative educational establishment'.

Do I need to? Is there anything they do that my GP surgery won't?

The school nursing service provide the immunisations that children get over the age of 4. They also do the routine BMI checks in year 6. In some areas school nurses provide contraception and sexual health services. They may also support young people with theirr mental health.

There won’t be any vaccinations from them until high school, and often it’s from a vaccination team rather than the actual school nurses.

What about the flu?

Apologies, yes.
But where I am very few have it, I assume they either refuse or go to the GP.
And yes, some GP’s do vaccinations for school age children.

Id join for flu vax alone. Many GPs dont do the kids ones.

The school nurse team are separate from the immunisations team. Think of them as a continuation of the health visitors- they’re public health nurses. They offer advice and support with things like continence (bed wetting etc), emotional health, behaviour, diet, sleep etc..

For things like flu vac-contact your local nhs trust main office and ask for the community immunisations team

I'm a school nurse. It totally depends where in the country you are as to who provides the flu vaccine, so worth finding out. But most GP's are not commissioned to provide the nasal flu vaccine to yrR+. In some county's it's school nurses, in others it is a separate vaccination team.

In my county, every school child comes under us, there is no "registration" to the service. But we work as 0-19, not every county does.

You can pm me if you want :)

Thanks for all your input