Page 1377 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 May 2015
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During term four there will be changes to the way that health care for students at Malkara and Cranleigh School will be delivered. This will mean that the current model of health care support will no longer be delivered through an onsite nurse.
In addition, parents at Malkara and Cranleigh were sent a letter from the healthcare access at school team clearly stating that the program would commence at the Malkara and Cranleigh schools in term 1 of 2015.
To add further insult to injury regarding Minister Corbell’s statements to the contrary, in the December issue of the Malkara school newsletter the school nurse wrote a message of farewell to parents and carers after she had been informed that the changeover to the HAAS program would result in her and a second nurse no longer being on site at the school.
As we understood, Malkara and Cranleigh did have their nurses reinstated at the beginning of term 1 of this year. However, Cranleigh was only reinstated with one nurse as opposed to the two it had had in 2014. The obfuscation and prevarication of Minister Corbell is shameful. As late as yesterday, he was still intent on creating confusion through ill-informed and misleading statements in his media comments.
The trial which went ahead at the Black Mountain School and the Woden School allegedly resulted in the school being left without a permanent nurse on site. The removal of nurses came after the peak nursing body in Australia, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, warned ACT Health officials in January that the removal of nurses from schools was dangerous and was putting the welfare of students in jeopardy.
The trial, which began in February, required nurses to delegate healthcare directions to teachers and teaching assistants. This puts further strain on our teachers in areas beyond their expertise, not only having to focus on a child’s learning needs but also being responsible for administering their healthcare, undertaking complex medical procedures, including peg feeding, insulin injection and seizure management. Many of these students cannot communicate through word of mouth; this requires teachers to be extra vigilant for any signs of a health emergency.
All teachers, particularly those in special schools, have huge responsibilities. The introduction of permanent nurses would result in improved care of students and a more appropriate sharing of responsibility for teachers.
The pilot program, which is the responsibility of the Health Directorate but managed through the Education and Training Directorate under the watch of Minister Burch, has met with considerable hostility from the Black Mountain and Woden school communities, including both nurses and teachers. As a result, at the beginning of term 2, two nurses were returned to the Black Mountain School. But the Woden School is still without a permanent full-time nurse.
There is currently a review being undertaken of the healthcare access at school program, HAAS, which makes no assurances that there will not be further changes to
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