Vulnerable children ‘at risk’ because of lack of school nurse

Martin Shipton

Vulnerable children with some of the most profound and complex medical needs at a special school are being put at risk by the lack of a dedicated school nurse, a town councillor has warned.

Llanelli Labour councillor Shaun Greaney, a former governor of Ysgol Heol Goffa, is urging Plaid-run Carmarthenshire County Council and Hywel Dda University Health Board to appoint a dedicated school nurse without delay.

A senior Plaid Cymru councillor said the appointment of a school nurse was entirely a matter for the health board.

“Parents have told me the authorities are playing Russian roulette with their children’s lives at the moment,” said Cllr Greaney

He called it “a scandal which could have terrible consequences”.

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, and her team are currently investigating after it was revealed that teachers and support staff are regularly administering emergency medicine, and are tube feeding and seizure monitoring to ensure the health and safety of a number of children.

Cllr Greaney said headteacher Ceri Hopkins had been battling for five years for a nurse to be appointed to, and based at, Ysgol Heol Goffa, calling it “an inordinate delay”.

He added: “The school, the parents, and I feel this is a dangerous situation which cannot be allowed to continue to fester to the point of a fatality. Further dilly and dallying threatens to breach Children’s rights to a safe education.

“The staff at the school are amazing and are doing their very best to avoid that but they are not medically trained to the standard of a nurse and that’s what these children need and deserve,” he said.

Now, Cllr Greaney has brought a motion to a full meeting of Llanelli Town Council on June 3 urging colleagues to back the school’s pleas for a dedicated nurse.

Speaking in advance of the meeting, he said: “This is about protecting the children and their wellbeing, not party politics. I am hoping that all councillors will examine their consciences and ask themselves whether they would be happy for their own children to be faced with the same potentially unsafe situation.”

The motion calls on Carmarthenshire County Council “to take all necessary steps” to secure the immediate appointment of a dedicated full-time registered nurse for Ysgol Heol Goffa. It adds that such a recommendation by Estyn in January this year, the intervention of the Children’s Commissioner and the concerns of Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith “all require a clear and time-bound response from Hywel Dda University Health Board”.

Protestations

Cllr Alun Lenny, cabinet member for resources at Carmarthenshire County Council, responded: ”Despite his protestations to the contrary, it’s obvious that Labour’s Shaun Greaney is abusing this very sensitive issue to attack the ‘Plaid-run’ council. This is very disappointing. The council and the school have expressed concerns about the lack of a dedicated school nurse for several years, well before the Estyn inspection report.

“Mr Greaney should know that Hywel Dda Health Board is responsible for the school nursing service in Carmarthenshire. Although he’s no longer a governor at Ysgol Heol Goffa, he should be aware that the school and the local authority are in ongoing discussions with the health board about ensuring the nursing needs of learners are met.

“Is it a coincidence that this statement comes out on the very day that Carmarthenshire County Council’s cabinet approved a multi-million pound plan to proceed with a new 150-pupil school for Heol Goffa pupils? Perhaps not.”