I am sure all of you will have noticed the publication of the long awaited (and somewhat overdue) government development plan for school nursing (Department of Health (DH), 2012). The news items surrounding publication focused heavily on the use of technology, such as text messaging and apps and we would love to hear from you if your area has integrated text messaging, or emailing, and has developed apps for you and your patients to use. Developing an app of this complexity is likely to be costly, and the staff would all need access to smart phones. Text messaging may well be used by practitioners on an ad hoc basis but it needs to be systematic if it is to have any effect. There is good evidence about the use of text messaging to support adherence to treatment programmes, as appointment reminders and to provide motivational prompts and support, as well as its use as a platform for providing standard information. To be effective, there needs to be an integrated IT strategy to support these developments and the technologies and their applications must be robustly tested and validated. Read more »

Wendy Nicholson, Professional Officer for Nursing at the Department of Health and lead on the School Nurse Development Programme (SNDP), answers questions from BJSN.

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Shy students are to be encouraged to use technologies such as email and text to contact their school nurses under new government plans.

The proposals form a key part of the strategy for school nursing, which has been made public on Monday (12th of March) – it was due to be published in February. Read more »

Publication of the school nursing strategy, which will be published as part of the ongoing School Nurse Development Programme,  expected to be available in February, has been delayed.

A DH spokesperson told BJSN: ‘We have been working closely with nurses and experts on the school nurse development programme. Over the past year we have ensured that the views of hundreds of children, young people and parents have been taken on board while the programme has been developed.

‘We will set out further details in the new school nursing strategy, which will be launched in the coming weeks.’

The Children’s and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum does not list school nurses among its members. Plans for the forum, which is part of a new strategy for improving care for children and young people, were unveiled at the end of January in a speech delivered by the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley. The Children’s and Young People’s Forum will be led by an independent group of experts, and modelled after the NHS Future Forum. Read more »

A new strategy for improving care for children and young people has been announced. The plans were unveiled in a speech delivered by Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, on the 26th of January. The Children’s and Young People’s Forum will be led by an independent group of experts, and modelled after the NHS Future Forum.

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The past few weeks there has been no escaping the alternate ‘positive’ announcements (e.g. extra cash, Children’s and Young People’s Forum to be unveiled, further amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill) and accusations of health professionals and their representing bodies (e.g. only being concerned about pensions or being ‘politically poisoned’ (Lansley, 2012)).

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Schools nurses should be more visible and offer services such as text messages with advice on drugs and other health worries.  Read more »