I remember how apprehensive I felt when my daughter first started school (she is now 7), especially as her school doesn’t have a nurse.  Most of the schools in the UK nowadays do not have nurses due to government cut-backs.  One of the support teachers was a first-aider and she was the one who was trusted with giving my daughter her 2pm tablet every day.  I met with her to fully discuss the importance of her medication and what should happen if my daughter broke a bone at school.  Although she was a first-aider, she was not a nurse and had no experience with injections.  In fact, I was told the school would not give the injection but would call the emergency services to come out to give the injection to her.  The school office carries her emergency injection and would give this to the ambulance staff should it be required.   So far, we have had no issues with this and my daughter has been at the school for about 4 years now.  I have to admit,  when she starts the new school year in September, I will probably arrange to have a meeting with the sports staff to reiterate the importance of any injuries, especially as they will be starting to play hockey!  I can imagine a few sticks being whacked about!

My other concerns was trusting the staff to remember to give her the 2pm tablet.  I couldn’t expect her to remember by herself as she was too young to tell the time and to remember when too engrossed in some activity.  However, I gave her a watch with an alarm on it, which helped.  Now she is older, she is the one to remind the teacher about the tablet, even without a watch!  I have always stressed the importance of her medication and she has always been very responsible about taking it, sometimes even reminding me!

I don’t know how far your hospital is from the school?  Ours is probably about 15-20mins away from the school.  We have all the instructions at school on how to give the injection, along with all relevant information concerning her condition pinned to the noticeboard in the staff room.  The school also has my home and mobile number should there be any sickness, etc.

Of course I would have preferred the school to have an on-site nurse, like when I was a child, but I know I have provided them with as much info as possible and just hope this will be sufficient.