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1. Medical needs in schools:
There is a
need for a change in legislation in Wales to introduce a statutory
duty of care for children with medical needs in schools. There is
an opportunity to include this within the newly proposed Additional
Learning Needs (ALN) Framework.
The Welsh
Government’s proposed ALN Framework documentation states that
children with medical needs will not be covered by the ALN Bill
(see page 30 of the draft ALN Code of Practice).
We ask the
Committee to consider the inclusion of medical needs in the
Additional Learning Needs Framework.
The current
guidance framework for the management of medical conditions in a
school setting differ in Wales and England. In England, the
Children and Families Act 2014 came into force on 1 September 2014.
Section 100 contains a statutory duty to support pupils with
medical conditions, meaning that in practice schools
must make additional arrangements for supporting
pupils at schools with medical conditions.
The legislation does not apply to schools in Wales. The rights of
children and young people with medical needs in Wales during the
school day are not protected in law to the same level as children
in England. The current system in Wales puts children with
medical conditions in Wales at an academic disadvantage in
comparison to their peers in England and does not protect them
whilst they are at school. We regularly receive enquiries
from families of children whose attendance, attainment and overall
educational experiences are compromised because of their condition
and the lack of guaranteed support from the current framework.
It is vital that children are kept safe and healthy whilst
they are learning to enable them to achieve their full
potential.
Providing
support to children and young people with medical conditions to
enable them to participate in all aspects of school life requires a
co-ordinated effort. As a patient organisation, we represent
the views of families affected by severe allergy most of whom carry
adrenaline auto-injectors for use in the case of an emergency.
These children and young people must have an individual
emergency care plan agreed by both parent, school and doctor in
order that there is a clear pathway to follow in case of a severe
and potentially life threatening allergic reaction. At
present, there is no duty on schools to organise this and provide
the necessary training to staff meaning that there is a hit and
miss approach to schools management. Our helpline hears
regularly from families living in Wales who are struggling to feel
their child is safe during school hours and whilst in England we
can refer people to the relevant section of the Children and
Families Act 2014, in Wales there is no such back up.
We ask
the Committee to consider the current situation and agree there is
a need to bring the rights, support and protection provided to
children and young people living with severe allergy and potential
anaphylaxis in Wales in line with those in England.
There is
currently a unique and rare legislative opportunity to do this
during this Government’s legislative programme.
We welcome the
Chair of the Committee, Lynne Neagle AM’s comments to the
First Minister on 28th June 2016:
I do believe
that the Welsh Government has a unique opportunity here, given the
unprecedented cross-party support that there is for this
legislation, to actually make a difference to children and young
people’s lives. The children and young people’s
committee scrutinised the draft Bill and responded to the
legislation, and one of the key concerns we had was that the draft
Bill didn’t do enough to actually tie in the health service.
We all know from our own casework that that is absolutely
fundamental—the connection between health and
education.
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