'Under-trained' support staff giving children medication

Teaching assistants and school support staff are being asked to carry out complex medical procedures having had only basic first aid training, public services union Unison has claimed.29-06-2009

Unison has published the results of a survey showing that more than 70 per cent of school support staff and teaching assistants are expected to administer medicines for conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart conditions. Many staff reported feeling a moral pressure to provide medical support, but had only routine first aid training.

Michelle McKenna, a school support worker from Durham, said, 'I know school support staff who routinely have to change colostomy bags, or administer drugs or epilepsy medicine. Support staff are really worried they will make a mistake. But they are even more worried about the safety of children they look after. It is only a matter of time before something terrible happens.'

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Source: -http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk