Wednesday 14 Mar 2012 @ 14:31
WiredGov Newswire (news from other organisations)
WiredGov Newswire (news from other organisations)
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School nurses could be ‘overwhelmed’ by millions of children texting in for appointments, warns Unite
England’s ‘ridiculously low’ number of school nurses may be overwhelmed by millions of school-aged children texting for appointments, Unite, the union, has warned.
The government has announced that it wants the seven million state education children to text school nurses to make appointments.
Unite’s head of health, Rachael Maskell said: “Unless there is a great surge in school nurse recruitment, the ridiculously low number of school nurses in England may be overwhelmed by loads of texts coming in to a central point which they cannot hope to deal with".
Unite, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, was also critical that recommendations about the recruitment of school nurses in England made eight years ago have still not been met
Unite repeated its call for the employment 2,000 more qualified school nurses over the next four years, so that every secondary school in England has a specialist school nurse.
Unite pointed out that it was in 2004 that a review by the then Chief Nursing Officer (England), Sarah Mullally said there should be a full time school nurse for every secondary school and its cluster of primary schools.
According to the DH’s figures, there are only 1,104 full-time qualified school nurses for nearly seven million state educated children and young people. There are more than 3,000 secondary schools in England.
Rachael Maskell said: “It is clear that NHS employers have been dragging their feet for years over the recruitment of school nurses. Policy platitudes are no substitute for frontline school nurses helping school children with such issues as teenage pregnancy, obesity, smoking and mental health problems.
“At least 2,000 qualified full-time school nurses are urgently needed to fulfil recommendations made as far back as 2004 - it will save money in the long-run, if we can prevent problems before they become a reality.”
-ends-
Note to news desks
For further information, please contact Unite communications officer, Shaun Noble on 07768 693940
Unite/CPHVA school nurse manifesto calls for a qualified school nurse in every secondary school and for all school aged children to be able to access these valuable nurses.
