Teacher having "duty of care" to email hospital about my sons admission?

[brandy77]

Is this correct? does anyone know, after all the hassle i had last week with my sons reception teacher...my ex has been for a meeting today, after i was told i would get a letter of apology for her comments about my parenting, her refusal to give my son his daily medication and her questioning my sons admission and emailing the hospital to query it.

The teacher has said she questioned my parenting because I was ignoring my sons behaviour while we were talking. My ex has told her that in social situations (like the parents evening) i ignore my sons behaviour and carry on talking. Really no point in screaming at him, trying to cajole him, bribe etc cause it doesnt work. Her TA used to ignore the same behaviour when my son started school and say "oh dear, we will ignore that behaviour" and smile! why its alright for them to do and not me is beyond me. My son has always had a problem with me talking to people, although he had been getting better where i have ignored it for the last 6months.

Apparently i wont be getting a letter of apology because of the above comments and more, she felt were rightly said?!?!? I said in a previous thread her comments were "how strict are you at home?" "you need more routine" and another comment that i cant remember now,lol. Anyway then the gestapo style questioning about my sons hospital admission. Turns out she sent an email to the hospital half hour before i arrived for the meeting questioning my sons nurse about his admission.

Im sorry if im rambling but ive only just read the email my ex has sent after leaving the meeting this morning and im pretty annoyed.

Anyway my ex said we didnt feel she had a right to email the hospital about confidential information that I had already supplied, its private and confidential fgs, my son has to have his testicles checked as well as all the other hormone tests, im sure that should be private surely. Why do the school need to know his balls havent dropped!

sorry im annoyed, im going to my sons admission for a few days tomorow and im a little stressed out.

So im wondering what this Duty of Care is defined as meaning?

Cannot answer your question - but just wanted to say I hope your spell in hospital with ds goes as well as these things can.

I remember having a lecture on duty of care many moons ago ( all professionals have duties of care) but that is all I remember!

thanks magso.

i phoned the LEA and they dont know either, they said the EWO might know and she is apparently meant to ring back when off the phone...that was an hour ago,lol. x

Err, I don't get it at all. What? Why?

I'm sure they ahve a duty of care to protect your sons wlefare BUT i'm sure this does not extend to checking up on details you have given, is that why the teacher emailed?

What is her reason for e'mailing. I would ask for her to explain why an email to the hospital = duty of care?

I would be extremely suprised if any healthcare professional parts with any info at all relating to your son in response to an email from a teacher.

I hope all goes well.

thanks for your replies,anon, yes the teacher was checking up on the admission

anyway, ive now phoned the LEA who put me onto the EWO (ed welfare officer) who was very nice and said the teacher should not have emailed about my sons admission. she said the right procedure is for her to flag up my sons absences (64% as he had 2 weeks off), but she said hes on the exceptional list cause of his medical needs. She said anything below 90% is monitored which surprised me.

She told me that she will ring the head tomorow and have a word and hopefully tell them not to email busy nurses about my sons absence (which i had very well informed them off), she also told me to request my GP sends her a letter stating that my son is under their care and his paed in London and that his health may affect his attendance.

Im afraid its left a rather bad taste in my mouth with the teacher and im glad i wont have to see her till next week! and then i am going to struggle to look her in the eye. Il also be speaking to his paed tomorow about his medication and telling them that i wont trust the school to give him his meds on an as needed basis. (Meds stop him drinking/weeing), i think they will just leave him peeing every 15mins all day as they say "water is easily accessible"?!?!

dont like schooling much easier when i had him at home without all this hassle and i could manage his condition myself, sooo hard to put trust in others especially when they appear so unsupportive.

thankyou.x

I know nothing of this but it can not be right that the teacher has done this and has basically shown she thinks you are lying.

Talking as a teacher this woman sounds a menace. I can understand her not giving your son his medecine but there should be designated people within the school who are able to supervise him having his meds. For safety, there should be two people, one to give it, the other to watch the person giving it (ie to protect themselves and to act as a double check).

She has absolutely no right to go phoning up a hospital. It almost seems like she's accusing you of Muchhousen by proxy (sorry, can't spell it).

I think a stiffly worded letter sent to the headteacher and govenors might be in order. In which your upset at your parenting of a complex child and giving an explanation of why you chose not to tell your son off when in public (it would cause a huge tantrum, etc,etc, etc,). However, you ensured when you were in the car you pointed out how to behave. I think you also need to question why this woman is phoning the hospital. I think the essential trust between you and the school (particularly when there is a complex child involved) has been damaged and what are they going to do to rectify it?

I think you have every right to feel upset with the teacher and the school.

The school has a duty of care to ensure that your child receives a satifactory level of education and if they have any child protection issues to share their concerns with social services, not health. If there is no child protection concerns, the school has no right to share any information about your child and family with anyone without parental consent. This is a serious breach of data protection act, i would recommend that you write to the school head, governors and copy in the LEA asking for a written apology and some assurances that systems have been put in place to ensure that this does not re-occur in the future.

I am sorry I dont know if you have considered going down the educational statementing process? I hope it all goes well for you and your child. Take care, keep focused, you can make a difference