Our primary school says if children need medicine at specific times 'pop' in & DIY

[wonkywillow]

Surely this penalises busy working parents, with occupations where they can't just 'pop' in? Or a parent who simply has other pressing commitments..

Can schools actually do this? They seem to be negating their responsibilities towards providing education and support for children with long term medical conditions that require regular medication.

Every time people do this, the same teachers wade in in an attempt to discredit me and my posts.

That would be to correct the incorrect information you are persistently posting.

If it's a health need then the NHS should provide it.

I would never refuse to administer an epipen, I carry one myself as do most of my family. But I will not administer routine meds or ABs - for the reasons laid out by other teachers. It is my right to refuse and you can whine on as much as you like. No teacher can be forced to do it.

That would be to correct the incorrect information you are persistently posting.

Claimed by you (and a few others) to be incorrect, Kay. Yet other posters have claimed I am correct and I am also correct according to my understanding of government documentation.

No teacher can be forced to do it.

I have acknowledged this several times.

Has anyone who has a child requiring medical support in school on this thread said their school haven't helped?

I think I have. I had to go in every lunchtime and give DS1 his lifesaving medication.

For his entire primary career. He has cystic fibrosis. The school told me that their insurance didn't cover them administering medication. I also had to go on all school trips, until another child's granny got jealous , and his lovely teacher offered to give him his medication to keep the peace.

No, I still had to go in every lunchtime, his next teacher was "a teacher, not a nurse" , so I was back to the rows with other parents/GPs about why I absolutely had to go on trips with him. I would hope that things have improved since then. My younger DC's school doesn't give medication unless it's prescribed, which seems better.

Your views seem to have changed over the years zzzzz.

zzzzz Wed 25-Sep-13 12:31:51
They tend to look at the one child without taking into account that the teacher needs to deal with a whole class which has its own very different dynamic." confused

Well of course they do, their job is to say what this one child with sn needs to access the education everyone else gets access to by not being disabled. It is then schools job to provide it. This is not some faddy idea, equality for people with sn is enshrined in law (and frankly should be obvious to everyone). It being difficult or awkward is never an excuse not to o the right thing.

A child wth cystic fibrosis should have a Health Care Plan and giving medication would be included in that. If they train a member of staff, insurance (not that they have the insurance by the way) is nothing to do with it. Schools do not take out insurance for mal practice. You were told a load of porkies. It is a bit sad you believed it all and did not look into what you should have received for your child. Some children with cystic fibrosis also get medical intervention at school. Obvioysly the member of staff could give the medicationand they did in the end, so why not via a Health Care Plan?

Regarding a school trip, I think a lot of parents with a child with cystic fibrosis would prefer to accompany them on a trip unless they were certain their child is pretty likely to stay healthy all day. However, on a school trip that is part of the curriculum, it should have been possible for the person who administers the meds and knows the child well to be on the trip and have your child in their care all day. That would be part of the Health Care Plan.

It is clearly wrong for parents to be fobbed off with rubbish from schools. However, a child with an ongoing health problem should have a Health Care Plan and it is the school's responsibility to put that into practice.

We were in Scotland at the time. Would the same thing apply there?

"If it's a health need then the NHS should provide it" - the NHS will provide the training to the school staff to enable them to fulfil their duties towards the child if it is a long term medical condition. That needs to be a member of school staff (not necessarily the teacher) and if no volunteer is found, the school need to recruit someone. But it is the school's responsibility, not the NHS's.

t1mum3, I am sorry to hear about the situation you experienced, but poor attitude is about your dc's school, not all the school in general. And this thread is not really about who's responsibility to administer medication or negligence of school or teachers.
OP has started this thread after reading a news letter suggesting parents to pop into school if child needs meds at specific time. I assume this does not include someone with HCP. OP hasn't said anything about speaking to other parents or school to find out facts at her school, so we don't really know what's really happening there either.
So she is totally speculating what is going on at her school. And she doesn't have any children who needs HCP for meds at the school. She herself says she is a SAHP, but advocating for working parents.
Some of us with this experience said school are doing great job helping us. But she keeps going on about only negatives she picked up on this thread and her own experience and generalising everything.

Can't you see a lot of posters feel uneasy about her provocative statements?

And this thread is not really about who's responsibility to administer medication or negligence of school or teachers.

It very much is. Right from my initial questions in the OP.

So she is totally speculating what is going on at her school.

I'm not speculating about the replies given on here though. A significant proportion of the posts, in clouding from people claiming to be teachers, on this thread claim schools have no legal obligations regarding the administering of medicines, for any of the children in their care. They then mention home schooling and home tutoring as an alternative to parents going in to administer. Which is genuinely shocking in terms of inclusion and fair access to education for children with additional medical needs.

I assume this does not include someone with HCP.

That is your assumption. The newsletter does not specify this. It really should. It is publicly available on their website. Anything publicly published should not conflict with school policies.

That is my assumption, yeah, but you are in the position to clarify with the school. Why not?

And your OP is all about school penalising working parents, and children with long term medical conditions not getting support. But few of us already told you we do get it.

You really are not making any sense.

What is your point?

zzzzz You seemed quite vehemently very unforgiving in your posts, on this thread, regarding the 'tone' of my posts. It seemed somewhat hypocritical when you have posted in a similar 'tone', numerous times, yourself in the past.

You really are not making any sense.

There are other posters on this thread that understand and have agreed with the points I have made, irvine.

Tell you what. My ds had blood clotting issue when he started school. He was on meds. I got several phone call from school to ask me to come in to check him when he fell over and bleeding. Did I find that obstructing? School are not doing their job?
No. I was just grateful school had kept eye on him and worried enough to contact me, even if it was nothing to worry about.
You are not really advocating parents with children with severe need.
You are just using this to be vindictive to school and staff.

It boils down to the same thing though. Are the schools in loco parentis with a responsibility to act in such a way, or not? The individual teacher thing is a bit of a red herring. Yes, the individual teacher can refuse but the school has responsibility. Luckily my son’s school recognise that - the point about him self administering was just that he makes things as easy as possible for the school. Individual teachers have however still refused to have him in their classroom without a one to one in case he has a hypo (which he treats himself) as they interpret the ability to opt out of medicating as an ability to opt out of their duty of care. So the school has had to find extra resources to employ someone. I’m very grateful that the school has understood it’s responsibility but I’m lucky in this.

Does it not concern you AT ALL that your thread might make it harder for the people you are trying to help.

zzzzz

Why on earth would it make it harder? If anything people coming away from this thread will be more informed. The relevant government information has been linked to. There have been a range of responses from, quite frankly, unsympathetic teachers along with people talking about schools who administer medication successfully. So this is possible. Therefore people will leave this thread prepared for what they might deal with and how these issues are tacked in different schools.

No it doesn't boil down to same thing, t1mum. It needs to be dealt with individually with each school. And I am sure many poster would back you up for it, including teachers.
Generalising all school and teachers are negligent and not helping as OP does, will not help anyone at all.