Organisation/Service Details
Organisation or Service
Description of activity
The Special School Nursing Team provides specialist nursing support to children and young people aged 4–19 years with complex medical and health needs. Our aim is to support children and young people to remain safe and well in school, enabling them to access education and achieve the best possible health and wellbeing outcomes.
Our team is made up of registered nurses from a range of nursing disciplines, bringing a variety of skills and experience to the service, alongside experienced nursing assistants. Most members of the team work during school term time, with some staff working throughout the year to provide continuity of the service.
We work closely with families, education staff, healthcare professionals, social care and other partner agencies to ensure that children and young people receive safe, coordinated and individualised care.
Special School Nurses play a central role in assessing, planning and coordinating healthcare within the school setting, supporting schools to meet the individual health needs of their pupils.
Due to the complexity of the children and young people on our caseload, Special School Nurses are based at Oakleigh School and Mapledown School. The team also provides an outreach service to Oak Lodge School, Northway Special School and Acorn Pre-School Assessment Centre in Barnet.
Referral Criteria
The Special School Nursing Team has experience in supporting children and young people with a wide range of medical and health needs, including:
Enteral feeding, including gastrostomy and jejunostomy feeding
Asthma
Epilepsy
Anaphylaxis and severe allergies
Rare and complex medical conditions
Cerebral palsy
Learning disabilities
Metabolic disorders
Safeguarding needs
Please note that Special School Nurses do not provide the school's general first aid service. Schools are responsible for ensuring that appropriately trained first aid staff are available to respond to routine first aid needs.