To celebrate World Asthma Day, 6 May, there are now five schools who have attained the “Asthma Friendly School” accreditation in Lincolnshire:
- Tower Road Academy in Boston
- St Peter at Gowts CofE Primary School, Lincoln,
- Park Academy in Boston
- Staniland Academy Boston
- Wrangle Primary Academy, Boston
The initiative, led by NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board, working closely with the wider Lincolnshire NHS, Lincolnshire County Council and the Children and Young People’s Respiratory Nurse at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, encourages all schools to welcome children with asthma and also put simple strategies in place to ensure they can fully participate in school life.
Asthma is the most common long-term medical condition in children in the UK. The UK has one of the highest prevalence, emergency admission and death rates for childhood asthma in Europe*. Children with asthma are also more likely to take time out of school then their peers without asthma, particularly if they suffer from persistent or severe asthma symptoms.
To achieve the Asthma Friendly accredited status, schools must meet the following key objectives:
- Adopt an asthma policy.
- Have a named asthma lead/champion amongst its staff.
- Maintain an up-to-date asthma register of the children in its care.
- Ensure staff complete baseline asthma training and annual updates.
- Ensure staff can recognise when a child is having an asthma attack and know what to do if this happens.
- Ensure children always have easy access to their reliever/rescue inhaler.
- Provide a school emergency inhaler and spacer device within the allowable legislation or ensure every child with asthma has a spare inhaler for emergency use stored safely on site.
Vanessa Wort, Associate Chief Nurse at NHS Lincolnshire ICB and Co-chair of the Children and Young People Integrated Transformation Board said:
“Asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease that affects around 1 in 11 children and young people in the UK. While around 10 000 children and young people in Lincolnshire have an asthma diagnosis, a further 3 000 have suspected asthma*.
“The benefits of becoming an Asthma Friendly School allows staff to improve asthma awareness and management in the school as well as improving support to students with asthma encouraging an inclusive environment.
“Becoming an Asthma Friendly School allows the staff to support pupils with asthma specifically, provide better support and lessen the impact on the education of these children and young people. If your child is missing school because of asthma you should contact your GP practice and also ensure that an annual asthma review is undertaken.”
Find out more at Asthma Friendly Schools – Lincolnshire ICB.