Every Child Matters - Children with Diabetes

♦ Olly. We had contacted the school months before the meetingand left information for them to read. The first aider was the worst, asusual, she knows ALL about diabetes!!! having been on a 2-day first aidcourse!! The school nurse pointed out they have a policy on insulin pumps,but that no child attending school in our town has a pump. I told her she waswrong, as there are a number of children using insulin pumps. I could haveput my head in my hands it was so bad. The teacher said "so if he startsto have a hypo, I have to put the insulin in his mouth then”!! Thebursar? was taking the minutes, I feel like asking for a copy so I can post it onhere!!! I was thinking, my child is supposed to be coming here soon, and youhave not looked into this one bit, the SENCO needs the sack as the headteacher said he had never seen the diabetes in schools document and askedme where I got mine from. When I said the LEA website his face was a picture.♦Anon. Three times this term my son was sent home from school hardlyhaving eaten anything to eat for the whole day. He was having an injection inthe morning that peaked at lunch. Our doctor said that the school wasputting our son at high risk by not supervising snacks and meals. We had toremove him from schoolA further meeting, with a large number of representatives from variousagencies attending, has still failed to reach any decisions about suitablearrangements for a child to have his insulin injection. One suggestion thatthe child be driven by car across town every lunchtime to go to hisown GP’s to receive his injection was rejected by the family as beingunsafe, a ridiculous waste of money and resources and discriminatory. Hemay have had to be driven by a different driver each day who would knownothing of dealing with diabetes emergencies and the child would have notime to play with his friends and would have to eat his lunch on his lap in thecar!!!♦I removed my daughter from the state education system in february(2005) and now home educate her and I consider this to be proof that ourchildren (with diabetes) are being not only failed, and are at risk within oureducation system . Since leaving school her HBA1C's have risen to a level theclinic are happy with whereas, previously they were so low the consultantconsidered her to be at high risk of severe hypoglycaemia, obviously she musthave been extremely low at school for much of the time. Overall her care hasimproved immeasurably and not because I do much more for her, but becausethe home educating community saw my daughter’s diabetes as an opportunityto learn about the condition and parents and children alike took it uponthemselves to make sure they were able to handle any situation that maydevelop. What a difference from school where her fellow pupils were not toldof her condition and the head treated her as nothing more than a nuisance.Eileen♦When I came to collect our child from nursery school the staff said that shewas tired and was lying on a cushion in the "book corner" alone. She didn'tnormally fall asleep at school. When I tested her blood glucose level, it was2.5 mmols. The staff's said that they hadn't tested because she hadn't said thatshe felt low.33