‘Vital role of school nurses threatened as paperwork eats into time with children’

Read the latest news from the Children’s Commissioner for England.

‘Vital role of school nurses threatened as paperwork eats into time with children’ by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, 12th September 2016.

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England:

“School nurses have a vital role to play in schools protecting children as well as promoting their well-being.

“They are one of the professionals at the front-line identifying abuse or neglect, as well as supporting children with a host of other issues – whether that’s mental health, age-appropriate relationships and sex education or healthy eating. Being available for children for face to face time is irreplaceable.”

After being alerted to concerns that their role was changing and that they faced increasing challenges, the Children’s Commissioner wanted to ‘know more about how school nurses worked alongside wider child protection professionals and to shine a spotlight on the barriers they may experience in effectively promoting pupils’ health’. Her research found that:

“It is clear from this research that school nurses face significant barriers in working directly with children and young people, with paperwork getting in the way. The support they offer needs to be better promoted and new ways to enhance their engagement with children explored.”

‘School nurses spend twice as much time on paperwork than on direct work with children in schools[…]. This could be reducing their ability to identify children at risk of neglect or abuse’.

Source: Vital role of school nurses threatened as paperwork eats into time with children

Read the full report: Children’s Commissioner Lightning Review – School Nurses, 12 September 2016

Read BBC News: Red tape ‘stops school nurses doing job’