Supplementary memorandum by The Anaphylaxis
Campaign
ADRENALINE AUTO-INJECTORS
IN SCHOOLS
Background: Children with severe allergies
face some risk when they leave the relatively safe environment
of the home and face the unpredictable environment of school.
Their parents suffer high anxiety levels. The Anaphylaxis Campaign
believes the risks can be managed and minimised. What school nurses
and staff need is information and training. Training should include
instruction in the use of adrenaline auto-injectors. Unfortunately
schools are hampered by a lack of national guidelines for the
prescription and use of auto-injectors. There is no consensus
about which children should be prescribed them or how many should
be available to each child.
Evidence of need: During 2006, the Campaign
helpline took 4,563 calls. School problems were among the common
recurring themes. Knowledge about the use of auto-injectors among
UK schools is patchy. In worst cases, schools and pre-schools
have effectively excluded children who carry auto-injectors. There
is published evidence to support the Campaign's experience:
— A survey in the Severn NHS area found
that 44 per cent of schools with an allergic pupil either did
not have staff trained to administer medication or declined to
respond to the survey. Less than half of the schools with nut-allergic
children said they gave relevant information to all teachers.
— In the Hull and East Yorkshire area,
82 per cent of schools surveyed had no policy on allergic reactions,
55 per cent had no training to deal with reactions and 67 per
cent wanted training.
— An audit of schools in Nottingham
identified inconsistency in knowledge and awareness about treatment
of allergies. Gaps in training for school nurses and school staff
were identified.
— A survey by the Campaign of 14 school
nurses in the West Midlands showed that all would welcome
training by the Campaign. The West Midlands is an area where allergy
awareness in schools is already high, indicating that training
is probably more urgent in other areas.
Addressing the unmet need: The Campaign
is meeting an unmet need by running a national training programme
for school nurses. This has been successfully piloted in five
areas of the UK. However, the national roll-out is subject to
funding becoming available.
Generic auto-injectors in schools: We
believe a solution to the lack of consistency in schools on the
carrying of adrenaline auto-injectors could be to have generic
auto-injectors available in schools where there are severely allergic
children. Under this model, each child who had been prescribed
adrenaline would have their own injector available. The generic
injector, held by the school, would be available for any child
who may need a second dose. Subject to funding, a scheme along
these lines will take place in Basingstoke from September 2007.
The project has been devised with full input from the local allergy
service, GPs, schools and school nurses.
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