Urgent plea for ‘lifesaving’ nurse at special school

Martin Shipton

Campaigners fighting for a “lifesaving” dedicated full-time nurse for Llanelli’s Ysgol Heol Goffa have been joined by the town council in urging the new Welsh Health and Care Minister to act swiftly.

The town council has written to Mabon Ap Gwynfor MS, the Cabinet Minister, stating it regards the current position as “unacceptable and potentially unsafe for some of the most vulnerable children in the county”.

Council leader Sean Rees proposed a motion urging the Minister to act to “secure this necessary service at Ysgol Heol Goffa”.

Ysgol Heol Goffa campaigner, Labour town councillor Shaun Greaney, proposed the Minister should meet with the parents concerned, and the Heol Goffa Action group fighting for a nurse for the school, to hear their concerns.

Mum Hannah Coles, whose son attends the special school, has also written to the Minister with a desperate plea “to act swiftly – before a preventable tragedy forces change”.

In her letter, Hannah, of Trimsaran, writes: “I am writing to you not just as a parent, but as a mother of a severely disabled child at Ysgol Heol Goffa, whose life quite literally depends on timely medical care.

“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. Knowing there is no full-time nurse on site leaves me with constant anxiety, not just for my own son, but for my friends’ children too.

“These children are among the most vulnerable in our community. Medical intervention is ongoing at the school where teaching assistants and teachers are tube feeding, changing tracheostomies and are catheterising children.

“This is over and above ‘first aid’ intervention that typical educators are expected to do. As parents, we should not have to worry that our children may be at risk simply by attending school.

“I am respectfully but urgently asking you to investigate this situation and take whatever action is within your powers to ensure full-time nursing provision is put in place.

“Our children’s safety, dignity and rights must come before everything else.

“I hope you will act swiftly — before a preventable tragedy forces change.”

Town councillor Greaney, who represents the Lliedi ward which is currently where the school is based, has also written personally to the Health Minister, stating he believes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are currently being breached due to the lack of a full-time registered school-based nurse

‘Desperate need’

He wrote: “Because more than 12 children’s lives could depend on full-time on-site nursing provision there is a desperate need to have a nurse employed to ensure maximum safety for the pupils who have extremely complex medical needs at Ysgol Heol Goffa.

“Some of the children have life-limiting conditions and some are palliative.

“The current lack of full-time nursing on-site creates a potential risk which jeopardises their safety in the event of an emergency, contrary, in my view to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Article 19 of the Convention states that children ‘should not be harmed and should be looked after and kept safe’.

“Firstly, there is no suggestion children are being harmed at the school.

‘Also, conscientious and dedicated teachers and teaching assistants are looking after the pupils to the best of their abilities.

“Elsewhere throughout Wales, health boards provide on-site nurses for special schools with pupils who have severely complex and potentially life-threatening conditions or symptoms.

“But Hywel Dda does not at Ysgol Heol Goffa. I contend this amounts to neglect on their part and is resulting in the children not being ‘kept safe’ at all times in the school.

“I myself, many parents and the wider community were unaware of the lack of a full-time nurse at the school.

“They are now horrified to discover these children may be in danger in the eventuality of a serious medical episode.

“Please act immediately. Ensure Hywel Dda University Health Board appoints a registered full-time nurse to be based permanently on site.

“This would ensure the safety of the children, reassure concerned parents and families, and come as a welcome boost to the teachers and teaching assistants who are not fully trained and confident – nor totally proficient or have the medical qualifications – to provide the treatments that are, and maybe, required.

“For more than five years the headteacher’s requests for such nursing provision have fallen on deaf ears.

“Parents are currently fearful for the safety of their children.

“I hope you will see that investing in Ysgol Heol Goffa children is worthwhile. Please be compassionate. No-one wants a tragedy at this much-loved special school.’

‘Penny-pinching’

Action group chair Becki Gilroy said: “Children’s lives are at stake and we will fight tooth and nail until they get the protection they deserve.

“We cannot have any penny-pinching.”

So far, Hywel Dda University Health Board has not committed to providing a full-time nurse at the school.