Teachers and teaching assistants at Ysgol Heol Goffa are being forced to give lifesaving and urgent medical aid to pupils because of the lack of an on-site nurse at all times, according to parents and staff.
Despite having training, campaigners say education staff are not fully qualified to treat vulnerable children with life-threatening and complex medical needs.
Anxious parent Hannah Coles, herself a qualified nurse, said:
“I fear not just for the life of my son, but for those of my friends’ children every day. Parents should not have to have such awful anxiety because they send their children to school.”
She said parents had been “horrified” to discover there is no full-time nurse on site.
“It came as a complete shock. We all assumed the nurse who calls in from time to time was full-time and based in school. That is what we need and are demanding from the Hywel Dda University Health Board,” said Hannah.
School headteacher Ceri Hopkins said she had been calling for a full-time nurse on-site for five years.
“The staff are not happy to be dealing with emergencies that could jeopardise the children. They do their best at all times, and will do whatever is required, but school staff should be teaching, not nursing.”
Now Llanelli Town councillor Shaun Greaney, who represents Lliedi ward where the school is located, has written to the Children’s Commissioner for Wales calling for her to ensure there is no future tragedy at the school, where more than a dozen children have life-limiting or severely complex medical conditions.
“What alarms and angers me is that these children could be condemned to an early death,” he said.
“That is why I have written to the Commissioner, Rocio Cifuentes, who is the highest authority in Wales, urging her to bring much-needed pressure on Hywel Dda University Health Board to employ a full-time nurse at the school without delay,” said Councillor Greaney.
“The parents say they have been lucky to date that a child has not died but the authorities cannot keep playing Russian roulette with pupils’ lives. Should a preventable and foreseeable tragedy happen, I believe it would be their fault,” he added.
In her letter to the Commissioner, Hannah said:
“My son is tube fed and requires rescue medication for Dystonia. He is life limited and is medically complex. Every day I send him to school I put enormous trust in the systems meant to keep him safe.
“I want to sincerely thank Councillor Shaun Greaney for bringing this issue to your attention. Many of us as parents feel frightened and unheard, and we are grateful that someone has spoken up on behalf of our children.
“The staff at the school are compassionate, dedicated and do their absolute best. I cannot praise them highly enough. But they are not nurses. They are not medically qualified to deal with complex and potentially life-threatening emergencies.”
Llanelli MS Lee Waters has written to Lynn Neagle, Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Education, stating that there had been “limited senior engagement until very recently”.
He calls for her “support in raising the issue with Welsh Government officials and ensuring the necessary steps are taken to provide the school with the clinical support its pupils urgently require”.
He has also written to the chair of Hywel Dda, Dr Neil Wooding, expressing “deep concern” that Carmarthenshire County Council had been raising the lack of a full-time on-site nurse with the health authority for “several years”.
He says in the letter that the situation “warrants urgent attention and decisive action”.
In response, Hywel Dda University Health Board have said they are working with the school and county council to “understand the additional needs” of the school and staff following Estyn’s recommendations.
Sharon Daniel, the health board’s Director of Nursing, Quality & Patient Experience said:
“The health and wellbeing of all children and young people is fundamental to their ability to learn, thrive and reach their potential, and is a priority for the Health Board. We support the children and young people at Ysgol Heol Goffa with a dedicated school nurse to meet their universal health needs, and through the provision of training for staff at the school.
“The Health Board provides specialist support, ensuring each child and young person with healthcare needs can be cared for competently and confidently within the school environment.
“The Health Board has taken on board the recommendations made by Estyn to the school and Carmarthenshire County Council and is working to understand the additional needs of the school and the staff. Through continued partnership working and a shared commitment to improvement, the Health Board will support ongoing actions to strengthen provision and ensure the best possible outcomes for the pupils and staff at Ysgol Heol Goffa.”
