"Nitty
Norah" remains many people's image of the
school nurse.
I vividly remember lining up with other children
to have my hair inspected. Having caught headlice
in my first weeks at school, I recall my fear as
the comb parted my hair.
But the modern school nurse is no Nitty Norah.
School nurses still help tackle headlice, but
nowadays more through advice to parents via
schools.
Instead, the school nurse's key tasks are far
more 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.
School nurses have a health education role too.
And they may even run 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.
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. Even
when a few vacancies are filled, the numbers and
skill mix of Kingston's school nurses will be
below that of only two years ago.
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.
That's why 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. |
