Diabetic 9yr old with broken arm

MadelinesMum

Hi all, hope this is the right place to post. My dd broke her arm a couple of days ago. She has just stopped using an insulin pump after being on it for 4 years (long story, but kept getting infusion site infections which affected insulin absorption).

She will have a cast for the next 6 weeks or so but when she starts back at school she will be back on injections for the first time in 4 years and she won't be able to do them herself.

I'm now wondering what to do as no one at school is trained to give jabs and they won't even do finger pricks. Which means I will have to go into school at least 3 times a day. I'm already not impressed with the way the school handles it. Two ambulances where called to school last year because of bad hypos.

Thanks for reading.

GwylimT

Does your daughter hav a diabetic nurse who can visit the school? Does the school have a school nurse. School staff are not allows to do this unless they are both qualified and employed as a school nurse, so yes they are completely powerless, we also cannot force children to eat the right diet so if we know they haven't we can ask them to monitor their bloods closer, if they choose not to all we can so is phone home.

We have a student at school who doesn't handle his type 1 diabetes very well, eats what he likes, pretends to check his sugar levels to get out of lessons. Unfortunately as a school we are powerless so his mum and dad take turns coming in to sort him out during the day, our school nurse is here on a Friday so with mum and dads written permission she can both check his bloods and administer his insulin. He goes home at least twice a week for refusing to check his bloods. Unfortunately he won't realise the seriousness of the situation he is creating until it is likely too late.

MadelinesMum

Hi, no there's no school nurse and the diabetic nurse would have a 40 mile round trip. When she was on injections before she would check her own bg and a TA would do her jab but that was 4 years ago and all those TAs have now left. I'm going to have to go into the school there's no way around it.

tom9980

The problem is yours not the schools, why should a teacher or TA be asked to do this just because it's not convenient for you?

Mojisola

tom9980 wrote: »

The problem is yours not the schools, why should a teacher or TA be asked to do this just because it's not convenient for you?

Because while a child is at school, the school should be looking after her.

That's why children who need to take tablets or use their asthma inhalers during the day are helped by someone at school rather than having a stream of parents in and out all day dealing with these issues.

Person_one

Mojisola wrote: »

Because while a child is at school, the school should be looking after her.

That's why children who need to take tablets or use their asthma inhalers during the day are helped by someone at school rather than having a stream of parents in and out all day dealing with these issues.

Insulin is a really dangerous drug, its a lot to ask of somebody who isn't qualified to administer medications. In a lot of hospitals it has to be checked by two nurses before being given because of how serious the potential for problems is if its not given correctly. Its very different to an inhaler.

OP, is the broken arm the reason your daughter can't inject, or is it that she's never learned because she's had the pump? Or a bit of both? Have you spoken to the diabetic nurse and asked for her help with coming up with a solution?

System

Not when it comes to medicines. That is still the parent/guardian responsibility.

Administering medicines is purely a voluntary act for teachers although some support staff may have it in their contracts

Taken from Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions Statutory guidance for governing bodies of maintained schools and proprietors of academies in England

School staff - any member of school staff may volunteer or be asked to provide support to pupils with medical conditions, including the administering of medicines, although they cannot be required to do so. Governing bodies should ensure that staff have received suitable training and are competent before they take on responsibility to support children with medical conditions. Although administering medicines is not part of teachers’ professional duties, they can provide other support and should take into account the needs of pupils with medical conditions that they teach.

Fluff15

tom9980 wrote: »

The problem is yours not the schools, why should a teacher or TA be asked to do this just because it's not convenient for you?

That's unfair - most parents work while their child is in school just to keep their head above the water, and can't be coming out of work three times a day.

In my opinion the school should have at least one person who is trained in this sort of thing incase there's any kind of emergency, such as the parent being in an accident and not being able to get to the child in time before she potentially goes in to a hypo coma. What about school trips, will the parent always have to attend too?

Schools are meant to provide their own policies and procedures, depending on the local need. In this case, the local need is a child with diabetes and in circumstances like this one, may occasionally need a hand in administering an injection that keeps her alive.

OP can you approach the governors or have you spoken directly to the head?

Mojisola

Person_one wrote: »

Insulin is a really dangerous drug, its a lot to ask of somebody who isn't qualified to administer medications. In a lot of hospitals it has to be checked by two nurses before being given because of how serious the potential for problems is if its not given correctly. Its very different to an inhaler.

And yet a parent can come into school and administer it?

Person_one

Mojisola wrote: »

And yet a parent can come into school and administer it?

Parents will have had a lot of training and support in how to give it and what to do if an error is made or something goes wrong. They are also giving it to their own child rather than to somebody else's in a professional capacity, which makes a huge difference.

PasturesNew

Mojisola wrote: »

And yet a parent can come into school and administer it?

Because they'll know what they're dealing with and will have been shown etc... and, more importantly, they have a vested interest in keeping the child alive, which includes taking special care to not make a mistake in a procedure that, for them, is a set routine. For nurses, the potential to get things wrong is higher as they're dealing with a constant stream of random strangers, all with different needs/strengths/volume of medication and all with different behaviours and expected results.