Diabetic children are being forced to inject in the school toilets

Published on Tuesday 31 July 2007 00:33

WHEN Connor Hunter was prevented from going on a school trip because of his diabetes, his mother refused to sit back and watch him miss out.

Claire Hunter said her 12-year-old son was sent home after teachers claimed they could not deal with his condition during an activity day.

She has since discovered Connor is not alone. Many parents in Scotland report a lack of support needed to allow diabetic children to carry on their school lives as normally as possible.

Now Mrs Hunter, a registered childminder, has helped form campaign group Diabetes Education Awareness Longterm (DEAL) to help tackle the problem.

After contacting other parents, Mrs Hunter, who lives in Glenrothes with her husband David and their three children, found pupils with diabetes are being excluded from activities and having to inject themselves in toilets.

There are also fears some youngsters could be missing weeks of school every year because teachers are not confident in coping with their symptoms.

This means they are sent home if support is not there to monitor a child.

Mrs Hunter said Connor was forced to take at least 15 days off school in the last year because teachers had not been able to cope with his symptoms.

But she added he was particularly upset when teachers sent him home from Glenrothes High School just before he was set to go on a laser quest trip.

"The teacher just saw he was on an insulin pump, did not know what that was or how to deal with it and she panicked.

"She did not know what to do so she sent him home, just half an hour before they were due to head off on the trip," she said.

Mrs Hunter, 34, said the school had apologised for the incident and were now working with her to improve support for pupils with diabetes.

Other parents have problems such as children having nowhere to carry out insulin injections and blood tests during the school day. Mrs Hunter says diabetic children urgently need designated areas.

Unless a first aid room is free, many have to use school toilets, with no support from first-aiders or a school nurse.

Sarah Johnson, director of policy at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), said:

"We are receiving increasing reports that there are occasions where children with type 1 diabetes are not receiving a good standard of care in schools.

"This is something that we are looking at addressing."

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said that guidance was available for schools.

"Also we have the Additional Support for Learning Act. This says that anyone who needs extra help to get the most from education, is entitled to get that help," she said.

"If you have diabetes and that could affect your involvement in school activities, that should be addressed so you can take part."