A shot in the arm for school nurses as numbers drop
THEY were once a common feature of schools across Scotland, putting plasters on cuts and doling out cures for headaches and tummy bugs.
But school nurses are fast disappearing, with the number down by more than 50 per cent in a decade.
Now two pilot projects have been launched with the aim of making them indispensable once more.
Training for school nurses began to decline in the 1990s and many might have assumed they had already vanished.
However, Matt McLaughlin, head of health at public services union Unison, said: ‘We are acutely aware of the cut in the number of school nurses.
‘Health boards and successive governments have failed to recognise the vital role school nurses play in child protection.’
The pilot schemes, which could in future be rolled out nationwide, were set up by the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway and Perth and Kinross, deploying 27 nurses to work across schools in the two health board areas.
School staff refer pupils to the nurse, while drop-in clinics have also been opened.
Those behind the project believe it could lead to children’s ailments being identified at an earlier stage.
However, some nurses have expressed concern that pupils may not want to raise health complaints initially with a teacher and others fear too long could be spent administering vaccinations, which took up 75 per cent of the Perth and Kinross team’s time.
Nurses said the issue raised most frequently by pupils was ‘mental health and wellbeing’.
An evaluation report by the NHS and the University of Edinburgh said this was ‘confirmed by the consultation with children and young people’.
The report authors said: ‘The role is now clearer to the nurses themselves and to all relevant agencies, including education.
‘Other agencies are increasingly aware of the contribution school nurses make to children’s assessment and support process.’
Joanna Murphy, chairman of the National Parent Forum of Scotland, said: ‘In these cash-starved times, it makes sense to prioritise school nurses’ duties, and the pilots seem to have made a reasonable job of this.’
Ken Cunningham, former general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, representing headteachers, welcomed attempts to make the role of school nurses clearer but said there was a danger of guidance being overly prescriptive and creating a ‘straitjacket’.
The number of school nurses has fallen from 106 in 2007 to 48 in 2016, a drop of nearly 55 per cent, according to Scottish Government figures.
Their role was mired in controversy in 2014 when it emerged that pupils as young as 13 were being supplied with free condoms without their parents’ knowledge in an attempt to tackle teenage pregnancy, even though they were below the age of consent.
The radical move was the latest attempt to battle unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘School nurses are valued members of the nursing workforce and we remain committed to their vital contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of children, young people and families.
‘These pioneering pilots showed that a targeted school nursing role added value to the service through maximising their contribution and effectiveness, by providing additional support to young people.’