School Nurses Campaign

What do school nurses do?

The school nurse's key tasks are wide ranging.

• Assessing the health needs of every five year old.
• Running immunisation and vaccination programmes.
• Regular contact with schools, supporting children with complex health needs.
• Working with other agencies to protect vulnerable children.
• Running drop-in clinics, parenting programmes, enuresis (bedwetting) clinics and schemes for young people, such as Kingston's Magic Roundabout.

In other words, school nurses are highly skilled professionals.

Government investment in school nurses?

Given Government says it wants to encourage preventative healthcare, and has "healthy schools" as a cornerstone of public health policy, you would have thought Ministers would be investing in school nurses.

Far from it.

Both locally and around Britain, school nurse numbers are falling.

In Kingston the service currently has only 4 school nurses looking after nearly 20,000 school children.

On visits to local schools, I have found headteachers angry and anxious about these particular NHS cuts. It's the longer term damage to children's health that worries them, not just the increased frequency of headlice outbreaks.

What I am doing about it

In the last Commons debate before the Easter recess, I raised the problem with the Minister for Public Health.

I explained there is no national framework for school nursing practice, and thus no guidelines for adequate funding levels. I questioned why in Kingston only £13.86 per pupil was spent by the NHS on school nursing, whereas in nearby Richmond it was £31.56.

I will not be satisfied until Kingston's school nursing service is properly and fairly resourced.

At the moment, the NHS is letting down Kingston school children.

Tell me what you think
about the funding of school nurses

Latest
Commons debate
Special adjournment debate highlighting problems faced by school nurses in Kingston

More School Nurses, please
Why are Kingston's school nurses funded so badly?

Head Lice Battle
Community group takes over as school nurses face cuts

Early decision demanded on school nurse funding
Concerns about delay in publishing Health Authority Review

Current campaigns