Medication at school

[rebl]

Can a school refuse to administer longterm medication that if not given would result in the child's health and attendance being significantly affected?

She's off today anyway . She's woken up with a migraine. She was insistant that she went to school but by the time I we got there it was so clear to me and even the ta that she really wasn't going to cope so I brought her home. Poor girl was crying her eyes out. But she's now in bed asleep so definatly the right decision.

Have left a message with the GP asking for a call back to discuss her medication.

About to ring parent partnership.

Has she got a migraine because she didn't get the right medication yesterday?

IndigoBell Believe me, thats exactly whats going through my mind. Could never prove it though could I.

I've spoken to the GP and he says he can't recommend that her medication is split over 2 doses instead of 3 because of the half life. He says we have no choice but to go back to the school and ask for a meeting with the HT to resolve this issue. He is also concerned about the storage of medicines in the school regardless of their potency. He is of the opinion that we need to tackle that regardless of what happens with DD's situation.

Oh and have left a message with Parent Partnership so hopefully someone will call me back soon.

oh, rebl.

I hope dd feels better very soon. how was ds this morning?

would you gp write a letter supporting that your dd needs her medication at this time, and that no other timetable is suitable?

always best to get these things in writing officially, then the school has less opportunity to retreat.

agree the medication storage issue needs sorting - it's bonkers to leave even Calpol in reach of children.

silverfrog DS was carried kicking and screaming to the car in his pj's. Needless to say he got dressed in the car, he knows I don't care, I will just take him in as he is. He surprised me though when I left with dd and left him there. He happily went to sit at his seat. There was only 1 other child there though so it was very calm and the TA was totally devoting herself to him. Maybe I should get there early everyday for a bit.

He was upset today that he had torn his favourite book up yesterday afternoon in his after school destruction. So that was probably the problem with him this morning. Plus of course there was a lot of attention going on dd and not him.

oh, rebl, , it sounds so hard.

is your ds reacting because he feels out of control?

it's good that he went in calmy this morning, and brilliant that he was ok with dd leaving again - are they close? (sounds asilly question, as obviously they are twins, but I mean will he feel the absence of dd, or more likely be miffed by the day at home for her?)

sounds like he does well with proper TA assistance - make sure you make a note of it, and if possible point it out to school too (preferably in writing - maybe tag in onto a note you write to confirm dd's absence? - a PS, didn't mini-rebl do well this morning? he really does feel more settled when there is less noise/bustle/he gets support etc)

this is all relevant to a case if you go the statementing route to get him proper support.

If it's any help my dd4 has a statement on medical grounds. At the moment she is only on half-days but when she goes F/T she will need a dose of medicine in the afternoon. The school nurse has written a care plan and teachers/TA will be "trained" to give it, although education and school health don't seem to know who is responsible for the training . We are fortunate that the HT of this school is on the ball and has been incredibly supportive.

Headmistress has spoken with dh. She was shocked and appauled at what happened on Tuesday and told all staff on Tuesday to ensure that they were familiar with the schools medicine policy and that they were adhering to it. She also reminded them all that ALL medicine should be kept in the staff room. So yesterday when I asked for dd's medicine to be put in the staffroom and was told by the TA that she couldn't keep it there because she would forget about it that was against what all staff had been told. Responsibility of medicines has been taken away from the TA and teacher involved in Tuesday and yesterday incidents until they have been retrained.

I really hope this is the end of this now. Just to sort ds which I always expected problems with now!

I would still contact the school nurse. This is really, really rubbish. The local primary care trust website should have the tel no of the school nurses base, health visitors will also have SN office numbers.

Depending on the dose, could your dd learn to swallow tablets? If it works out in mg terms, she might be safer with 'one tablet at 12pm', with you sending only one in per day, to be given by a named, trained individual that the school nurse, head and you all trust.

Relying on a numpty to draw up the correct dose and put the bottle somewhere safe seems a tad risky. If the staff ignore the medicines policy, it's worthless. And though it's good that the staff involved have been stopped from giving meds & will be retrained, can you be sure their substitutes will be better?

Parent partnership called me back. They passed me on to the medical needs team. The guy from there said pretty my the same mariagoretti. He said at the v least she should have a care plan with a named person and backup person. There should be a record of medicine being given, kept with the medicine so that she's not given it twice by different people (I hadn't even thought of that!). So he's said to go to see the ht tomorrow and ask for a care plan to be drawn up and see a records sheet. He also said that I was to give her his phone number and he would help her draw up the care plan. He said to call him middle of next week to make sure the school had actually contacted him. He said that they always had a better relationship in these situations if the school called for help rather than him going wading in. He also said, as others have said on this thread, if the ht decides she will not give medication then she won't and there is very little I can do about it other than go down the statement route.

DH said that ht would try and catch me tomorrow morning when I took the medicine to the staff room so hopefully she'll be receptive to talking.

mariagoretti There isn't a tablet available. I asked the GP that this morning.