Call for schools and nurseries to be allowed to keep spare asthma inhalers
Katy Morton
Friday, January 13, 2012
Asthmatic children's lives are being put at risk because of legislation that prevents schools and nurseries from keeping asthma inhalers in their first aid kit, warns a leading charity.
Asthma UK argues that rules which prevent schools from keeping a spare inhaler for asthmatic children who forget, lose or run out of their medication, means that children face an increased health risk if they suffer from an asthma attack while at school.
A survey of more than 200 children with asthma by the charity found that nearly two-thirds have had an asthma attack at school. It also revealed that 64 per cent of the children have at some point been unable to access a working inhaler while at school, having either forgotten, lost, broken or run out of their own.
Under regulations set by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency schools cannot keep spare reliever inhalers (Salbutamol) because they are a prescription-only medicine to be administered to the individual who was prescribed it.
To allow schools to keep inhalers in their first aid kits, the charity is calling on the MHRA to change the rules and make an exemption to the regulations.
Similar exemptions already exist for organisations such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the armed forces, along with selected prescription-only medicines, including epipens that can be administered by any individual to any individual for the purpose of saving their life.
Emily Humphreys, head of policy and public affairs at Asthma UK, said, ‘These medicines (asthma inhalers) are very safe but going without them can be very dangerous, so it is crucial that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) changes the rules and allows schools to keep a spare inhaler as a last resort.
'The majority of children know to find a teacher if they don’t have their own inhaler when having an asthma attack at school but the reality is that there is very little that staff can legally do to help in this situation. This puts children at risk.’
Calvin Hanks, quality director of Acorn Childcare Training, said, ‘There is no legal reason why individual children (or their parents) cannot leave a spare inhaler at the school or nursery. However this may only be used by/on the individual and not other children.’
