Health: Union 'appalled' at school nurse dearth
Sarah Cooper
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
A school nurses' union has warned head teachers in a London borough that there are no qualified school nurses employed by the local primary care trust.
Members of Unite's branch in Hounslow are concerned that there is not even a single nurse with the specialist community public health nurse qualification working for Hounslow Primary Care Trust.
In response the union has written to the borough's 60 primary and 14 secondary head teachers asking for support for its campaign for more school nurses.
Hounslow PCT has undergone a modernisation of its health visiting and school nurse team, which means it has the equivalent of 10.5 nurses working with other members of its 0-16 team and partner agencies to deliver health services in schools. In her letter, Ros Godson, Unite's professional officer for school health, wrote: "We are concerned that the local PCT has reorganised the public health service for children as a complete birth to 16 years service.
"We are appalled that the service to primary school children is not being supported by qualified school nurses, as recommended by the Department of Health's Choosing Health white paper in 2004."
She said school nurses, who have completed an extra post-graduate public health qualification at university, are essential members of the school team.
Cheryll Adams, health sector lead professional officer for Unite, said the union was "staggered" to hear of the situation. She said: "They have got people working in schools but not with the school nurse qualifications. The bottom line is that the government is saying there should be a school nurse for each group of primary schools and each secondary school, but they haven't got one at all."
A spokesman for Hounslow PCT said: "Over the past two years Hounslow Primary Care Trust has advertised for health visitors and school nurses without success and we recognised the need to modernise the service to encourage recruitment."
She said the new structure is in line with delivering national and local health targets including the reduction of childhood obesity and the promotion of immunisation uptake.
She added some of the nurses working in the health visiting and school nurse team have the specialist community public health nurse qualification, while others do not, but they all have the appropriate qualifications for the work they do. All health visitors have the specialist community public health nurse qualification.
It is a key government target for each secondary school and cluster of primary schools to have its own qualified full-time school nurse by 2010.