Mother in Need Report post Posted January 16, 2006 Could anyone tell me anything about health care plans? For which children are these? Are they limited to certain age groups? Do schools HAVE to have them, or are they only recommendations? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 17, 2006 Help anybody? I know most children on this site won't have additional physical problems but I have two kids who have, and there must be lots of others as well. I came across the term Health Care Plans in the ACE Handbook, but it does not give much information at all. Hence......... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jomica Report post Posted January 18, 2006 Hi Mother in Need - Although I have some experience of the NHS, I have to say that this isn't a field I'm overly familiar with. However, most NHS care professionals these days write a formal treatment/care plan for an individual so that everyone knows what the expectations are - for instance, my Mum had one when she'd had her hip operation that detailed who'd be seeing her, doing what, and what the targets were, etc. Care plans are really meant to help everyone who has contact with the individual to ensure that they're all working towards the same goal - so it may be shared by a physio, OT and district nurse, for example. I'm assuming that probably, with your permission, the healthcare worker(s) would share the plan with school to ensure that they know what the "plan" is. I'll try and find out more, and post again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 18, 2006 thanks jomica, I can now understand why no-one has reacted to this topic. With health care plan I mean a health care plan AT SCHOOL. The ACE handbook states: each pupil's individual needs should be considered when drawing up the plan in conjunction with the parents, and, where appropriate, the child and child's medical carers. The plan should set out in detail the measures needed to support a pupil in school and often will need to be drawn up alongside an Individual Education Plan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JUST A DAD !! Report post Posted January 18, 2006 Hi there, I work in a speical needs school and with alot of the students we have care plans. It is usually a detailed discription of the childs condition (diaginosis) what medication they taking , dr's numbers for emergencies. All medical infor - fits - etc. They are kept in a file so in an emeregency they are accecible very quickly. Hope this helps and sheds some light. Bonnie - justadad wife Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 18, 2006 Thanks Bonnie. Do you know if these health care plans are for ALL ages? My son is 12 and apart from AS and ODD he is also diabetic. He is not able to care for himself, nor for his bloodsugar levels etc, and I have been trying to get the school to take responsibility for monitoring him. He has been very hypo quite a few times (that I know off, and probably loads more times that are unknown...) and I do not wish to wait till something goes seriously wrong. That's why this idea of a health care plan is very appealing, but I am not sure how to go about it, and if the school HAS to do this etc. Is it a legal requirement? How does one go about getting one? Could school be asked to give injections (he is in puberty and is soon going to need an extra injection at lunchtime; I am the one who always does them but obviously don't want to have to go into school 5 miles away every day to give it to him)? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JUST A DAD !! Report post Posted January 18, 2006 Hi there mother in need, Care Plans should be for all ages. Your son being diabetic should have a care plan especially if he has AS and other medical issues. Does he go to a main stream school because sometimes things are a little different? They usually have a nurse at either a speical needs school or a main stream secondary School and if he is unable to administer his medication they will have to do it for him - or the school may suggest someone looking over him. Does your son remember to take his medication... They could help with that too... (because my son has to take a tablet at 12.00 every day and if he did not have a reminder he would forget - he has inflammatory bowel disease) You will have to ask for a care plan to be drawn up because diabetes is not something to be taken lightly... Hopefully your sons school will be accommodating. We have a young lad at our special needs school who takes insulin injections and we watch over him while he is doing it, checking to see if the units are correct - I think the school may suggest someone looking over him. Would you accept that or do you prefer to have somebody actually inject him??? Bonnie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 18, 2006 My son is in mainstream. No, he can not remember when he has to check his bloodsugars etc, though is usually OK to do it if someone reminds him and stays with him to make sure he actually does it. He is able to do his own injection every now and again, but is simply not emotionally able to do it all the time. This would greatly stress him out, so yes, someone would have to do it for him though on the odd time that this would not be possible he could cope as long as he was told this well enough in advance. Thanks Bonnie, this information is very important and I will suggest this to the school! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JUST A DAD !! Report post Posted January 18, 2006 no problems let us know how things go with the school bonnie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 19, 2006 They're not good at all, Bonnie. The taxi company is now refusing to take my son, due to his violent resistance in going to school, and the education welfare officer is talking about home schooling... I did speak to the parent partnership lady (who got the EWO involved) and she was quite appalled by what has and hasn't happened, and she seems to have taken it in hand, for which I am very grateful. and yes, she seems to know about health care plans as well! But it does look like he'll be home till a statement is finally in place and has been implemented... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JUST A DAD !! Report post Posted January 19, 2006 oh u poor thing, If its not one thing its the other, it never rains but it pours. How long will it take to get a statement in place, that could take ages if i am correct. I hope it works out for you and are you in favour of home schooling? Bonnie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 20, 2006 How long will it take to get a statement in place, that could take ages if i am correct. I hope it works out for you and are you in favour of home schooling? Bonnie We are awaiting a vital report from the psychiatric day unit he attended before Christmas, to finish Stage Two. And then comes Stage Three (if they decide to do so), and the writing and wrangling over the contents. How long is a pice of string? I used to home educate, but this is so different. Then I taught my three kids in the day time and worked evenings and weekends, as dad was the babysitter. This gave me a break, and it worked out great. Now I am by myself I have no such luxury as breaks, and as he needs such intense support all day I simply cannot cope. He is now in year 8, and feels there is nothing I can teach him (he is gifted and talented as well, to make matters even more complicated); his ODD makes it extremely difficult ofr me to teach him anything. So no, I am not looking forward to this. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted March 8, 2006 My son is slowly being re-integrated at school (finally) and school now finally seems to accept he is AS... I was given a form yesterday to fill in re medical issues, but was told it was for the file only. So I sent them a copy of the health care plan form out of Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings, with a note suggesting they have a proper health care plan in place for him. This was sent back to me today with the note 'If you care to fill in the health care forms which you sent in yesterday these too can be placed on file'. They shouldn't be 'placed on file', they should be used and acted upon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UltraMum Report post Posted March 8, 2006 Schools will be having to develop policies on this and use health care plans ... the DfES document Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings has finally made its way down to the lower echelons and the latest governors' advice is about implementing this - so yes - the school should have one where necessary and act on it rather than filing it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted March 8, 2006 the latest governors' advice is about implementing this You mean that it's been out for a year now and it's only just beginning to be read? And it's not obligatory either? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UltraMum Report post Posted March 8, 2006 You mean that it's been out for a year now and it's only just beginning to be read? And it's not obligatory either? LOL! Got it in one! It's causing problems for us with J's Ritalin - we have to send the medication in as prescribed and not already chopped into the appropriate halves and quarters - but the school aren't happy about having to cut them up and store the un-used halves ... It also has to have the prescribing info on it - it says "2 x 10mg tablets in divided doses" - not a fat lot of good ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
