Posted By Mark Eastbourne Hi I work at a college. We will shortly be receiving a student (19yr) who will require an insulin "shot?" to be administered by a member of our college. Precedent has been set as this was done for him at his school. Training will be provided. I just have concerns about this. Apparently as this has been carried out previously we will get into trouble if we refuse under DDA requirements. I guess I must contact our insurers? There is no procedure written for the previous educational establishment which this student has come from who apparently takes the syringe home with him on the bus. In addition apparently our staff will need to go to the toilet with him so he can pee to check his something level. I just have some concerns, I would hate to have this responsibility but the pressure is on to take him under these conditions. Anyone with experience in this matter? Any comments welcome. Regards Mark

Posted By grahams Hello Mark, I assume the student has other difficulties so they can't administer this themselves

Posted By Fred Pratley It is very difficult to comment without all the facts, but just because the previous school has previously done something should not be viewed as a reason for you to do so. In fact, I would suggest that as part of the "growing" process, perhaps this is the perfect time for this student to become independent of support for this important aspect of his life. Regards Fred

Posted By Colin Reeves I agree with Fred that efforts should be made to allow / train this student to fend for him/herself in the future, as will inevitably be the case. However, one thing puzzles me greatly. Once your diabetes has got to the point where insulin injections are needed, then blood testing is the only accurate way of testing for blood sugars. Urine testing is simply not adequate. Blood testing does not need to be done in the toilet, in fact, that is the worst place to do it!! Somewhere your information is lacking so it may be that you have not been told the full story. I would wish to ensure that I have the correct information. Colin (Insulin user myself)

Posted By PhilP Mark I would recommend this guidance to you as well, not just for this particular person, but for any one of your students with a medical requirement. There is a specific section on Diabetes and a 20 page annex with formats for care plans, records of administered medication, parent consent forms and the like. The guidance is entitled “….Schools and Early Years Settings”, but I don’t see why it can’t be adapted for your college. It should also have been used by the person’s previous school as it is issued by DfES, now DCFS. http://publications.teac...roductId=DFES-1448-2005& Philip

Posted By Mark123 Hi Mark, Your new student is obviously an insulin dependent diabetic. I think my first question is why at the age of 19 he is not administering the insulin injection himself? Are there learning difficulties involved with your student? The insulin is being injected to regulate his blood sugar because his body does not produce insulin naturally. It's an easy thing to do, but obviously training should be provided from a medical practitioner for someone not used to doing this. People obviously have concerns when it comes to needles/injecting, especially if your college is asking someone to do this. How is this going to work anyway? If you have one person doing it, what happens if they are off sick etc. While DDA might well apply, I think your assessment of his condition is important. Insulin dependent diabetics can suffer hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar), which can result in disorientation, fitting and collapse. It is an important balance between insulin injection and food intake, to keep the blood sugar regulated properly. It is important that you understand the diabetic control of your student, and I think first off you need much more detail from the parents/guardians, on how this has worked before in school. Can you speak to someone at the school about it?

Posted By DannyC54 He is obviously an insulin dependant diabetic. My wife is also an insulin dependant diabetic and has been for 21 years. She has always without fail self administered her insulin dose(s) which in turn help to control her blood sugar levels. Does this young man have another disability which prevents him from self administering? If not I can't see why he would want anyone else to do it for him. With regard to monitoring his blood sugar levels urine testing is a very haphazard way of trying to reach and maintain control and not a long term method that would be recommended by Diabetes UK. A surer way is to take a blood test via a small finger pricker. Very simple to carry out and much more precise with regard to reading and reacting to the results. I do not blame you in feeling the way you do. Diabetes is an awful condition and without the correct training it places a lot of responsibility on you to ensure that his blood sugar is controlled to their optimum levels. Too low and he may well go hypoglycemic and go into a coma, too high and he may develop hyperglycemic symptoms of which the long term implications are kidney damage, neurological damage, cardiovascular damage, loss of vision etc.

Posted By Mark Eastbourne No offence taken. The facts are that the student has additional learning requirements and as such cannot administer his own medication. During my research I have come across the following document which you are possibly aware of, "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Part 4 Code of Practice for providers of Post 16 education and related services New duties (from September 2002) in the provision of post-16 education and related services for disabled people and students." Page 39 - 40 states: "Responsible bodies should not wait until a disabled person applies to a course or tries to use a Service before thinking about what reasonable adjustments they could make. Instead they should continually be anticipating the requirements of disabled people or students and the adjustments they could be making for them, such as regular staff development and reviews of practice. Failure to anticipate the need for an adjustment may mean it is too late to comply with the duty to make the adjustment when it is required. Lack of notice would not of itself provide a defence to a claim that an adjustment should have been made." Which of course I thoroughly agree with, but this document uses some examples, one of which is the following: 5.6G: "A college has had a large number of students over the years needing assistance with taking medication. The college has no current member of staff willing to administer medication. The college recruits a support worker, part of whose duties is to do this. It therefore anticipates reasonable adjustments that it might need to make for some students." As far as I know, we have not had a large amount of students who have needed assistance in administering medication, this is the first time isn't it? Using their example then, how can the current situation be called a reasonable adjustment? Personally I bend over backwards to help those less abled - I had a mother in tears the other day as her daughter who suffered from fainting spells wanted to do a course and where she worked previously - they washed their hands of her (and this is a well known supermarket!) but the reason the mother was in tears to me was because I said we would make reasonable adjustments to ensure she did the course she wanted! I said we would manage it! So I am not adverse to helping where we can but am convinced that applying medication intravenously should be done by a competent person and I am not convinced the training will be adequate. It may be, but I have put my recommendations to those responsible as well as as recommendations for looking after sharps, spares etc. So ultimately, if the training is adequate and staff are willing then we could make this adjustment. As it stands, I have just been informed that the department is willing to pay for a support nurse which does make me happier. I would also like to thank Martin from this forum who has helped me greatly and for those who responded, it is always appreciated! Regards Mark

Posted By martinw Mark you are very welcome. In the event that you think that I may be able to help in future matters, do not hesitate to shout! Must be a real weight off your shoulders to know that there is a nurse available to assist. I still have a number of very relevant contacts from my former job who will be able to give the best advice available in terms of policy and procedure, so again, ask if you need to. In the meantime, hope all goes well. Martin