School failed to follow NHS Care plan

[kevin leach]

Despite verbal prompts the school failed to scan/test mid morning and mid afternoon. this has now been addressed by the NHS team however the school have so far failed to supply answers as to why, What are our legal rights, can we take them to court ?,,, I have attached a breakdown of the missed checks dating back since Oct. To point out March 3rd is when I took a formal stance and the care has since been given as per the care plan.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Why on earth do you want to take the school/teacher to court? What exactly will you gain from it?
Your child is 7 years old so should be more than capable of using her libre during break times herself and telling the teacher the numbers

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Is there a particular reason why you need mid morning and mid afternoon checks? We would only finger prick at meals unless there were signs of a hypo that had been observed or our daughter felt. A hyper wouldn’t be treated for that period anyway and it just causes stress to over monitor so unless you’re going through a period of unusual hypos or have recently changed basal or something I don’t see what the benefit is. And even then it would only need to be for a few days while you sorted ratios or basal out not all the time.

 

[kevin leach]

Why on earth do you want to take the school/teacher to court? What exactly will you gain from it?
Your child is 7 years old so should be more than capable of using her libre during break times herself and telling the teacher the numbers

Quite simple, a care plan is in place as that fits the needs of the child and is there to support the child, remember every child is different please don't assume. My child also has learning difficulties and is actually 10 and therefore has been deemed by the NHS to require this support.

What would I achieve ?, well when the school has let my child down which has lead to serious hypos (child does not feel hypos), the achievement would be the massive kick up the backside so maybe they don't another child at risk in the future.

 

[kevin leach]

Is there a particular reason why you need mid morning and mid afternoon checks? We would only finger prick at meals unless there were signs of a hypo that had been observed or our daughter felt. A hyper wouldn’t be treated for that period anyway and it just causes stress to over monitor so unless you’re going through a period of unusual hypos or have recently changed basal or something I don’t see what the benefit is. And even then it would only need to be for a few days while you sorted ratios or basal out not all the time.

Yes, he cannot pick up hypos

 

[Kaylz]

If he doesn't feel hypo's then have you spoken to your team about a CGM? 2 checks wouldn't be enough really seen as they can happen at anytime so with only 2 it would just be luck if it picked up a hypo leaving the rest of the time open xx

 

[helli]

@kevin leach it must be distressing for you and your child.
I have no idea about your legal rights.

Is it worthwhile seeing if you can change from Libre which requires scanning to a CGM which will alert when going high or low.
A simple option could be changing to Libre 2 which had alerts.
Alternatively, you could invest in a Miaomiao to covert the Libre 1. Or talk to your diabetes team about a “real” CGM such as Dexcom.

 

[Paulbreen]

I think Kevin’s point is they ignored an agreed care plan, I think that having such a plan in place with a child’s school gives some peace of mind that their child is in good hands and they need not worry too much about them.
Regardless of the child’s monitoring system, treatment and age the point is they did not carry out the plan!!
I have no idea about the legality in such a situation but it does gripe me reading some of these responses which are formed without knowing all the circumstances.

 

[Inka]

You say the school have failed to provide an answer as to why they missed the scans. My first priority in your situation would be getting that answer in order to avoid it happening again. I would write giving them a period of time in which to respond to that simple question.

I’d then raise a formal complaint with the school/governors, and ask what measures they had in place to stop this ever happening again. I’d include specific queries about possible situations.

I’d do that before taking any legal advice because you might find out more information, and will hopefully ensure your child’s safety.

If you’ve already done all those things, then you could get advice from a solicitor. Many offer 30 minutes free. Be clear about what you’d be hoping to achieve from any legal action.

 

[kevin leach]

@kevin leach it must be distressing for you and your child.
I have no idea about your legal rights.

Is it worthwhile seeing if you can change from Libre which requires scanning to a CGM which will alert when going high or low.
A simple option could be changing to Libre 2 which had alerts.
Alternatively, you could invest in a Miaomiao to covert the Libre 1. Or talk to your diabetes team about a “real” CGM such as Dexcom.

Hi thanks, one good thing to come out of this was the NHS gave us the libre 2 which moving forward will help massively, we are so far two weeks in and its been great 🙂

 

[Boom]

I don’t know how Libre 2 works but I do know that Dexcom have a built in app on the G6 called “ share” which provides connectivity between multiple receivers and has been designed for those in a position like you find yourself. With the school failing to undertake what has been asked of them , now might be a good time to ask the NHS for a better system and one that you can monitor in real time.

 

[kevin leach]

You say the school have failed to provide an answer as to why they missed the scans. My first priority in your situation would be getting that answer in order to avoid it happening again. I would write giving them a period of time in which to respond to that simple question.

I’d then raise a formal complaint with the school/governors, and ask what measures they had in place to stop this ever happening again. I’d include specific queries about possible situations.

I’d do that before taking any legal advice because you might find out more information, and will hopefully ensure your child’s safety.

If you’ve already done all those things, then you could get advice from a solicitor. Many offer 30 minutes free. Be clear about what you’d be hoping to achieve from any legal action.

 

[kevin leach]

bang on thats pretty much what I have done and since 3rd march they have stuck to the plan

 

[kevin leach]

I think Kevin’s point is they ignored an agreed care plan, I think that having such a plan in place with a child’s school gives some peace of mind that their child is in good hands and they need not worry too much about them.
Regardless of the child’s monitoring system, treatment and age the point is they did not carry out the plan!!
I have no idea about the legality in such a situation but it does gripe me reading some of these responses which are formed without knowing all the circumstances.

thanks your summary is spot on how this has made us feel

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Quite simple, a care plan is in place as that fits the needs of the child and is there to support the child, remember every child is different please don't assume. My child also has learning difficulties and is actually 10 and therefore has been deemed by the NHS to require this support.

What would I achieve ?, well when the school has let my child down which has lead to serious hypos (child does not feel hypos), the achievement would be the massive kick up the backside so maybe they don't another child at risk in the future.

Sorry I see you posted in 2017 when your son was 7 and you were having problems with your ex looking after your son properly.

You need to go back to the school with DSN and sit down with a care review and insist it is adhered too. Taking court action is pointless. Talking helps and achieves a lot more as does giving all the info in your post.

 

[admc26]

I'm so sorry to hear about that @kevin leach. I totally understand where you are coming from. My mum and I had to push for my care plan to be properly implemented when I was at school. I was told by my first school nurse (who dealt with diabetics at the time) that it was an inconvenience for me to come and test my bloods when I needed to!

You said that they seem to be following the care plan now so that's good to hear. I remember that organising my diabetic consultant to come and speak to the school was the best thing for us as I think they started to grasp the severity of their actions after that.

Please keep us updated if there's any further developments.

 

[Bronco Billy]

I’m sorry to hear about all the problems you’ve had.

Taking legal action should be absolutely the last resort! In my experience, schools don’t do these things deliberately. They do their best to provide good care and often need support and advice from the parents to help them do this. I would be very surprised if any mistakes were caused by ill-intent. You said yourself that the school have “stuck to the plan” since the beginning of March. You’ve got what you want and what your child needs, so, in my view, taking legal action would be counter-productive. I completely understand the emotions you must have felt, but the siutuation has been resolved. You and your child still have to have a relationship with the school, which would be damaged if you took such action. The school will have learnt from the experience with your child, which will help staff provide better care in future to yours and other children with diabetes.

Just as when your child was diagnosed and you had a lot to adjust to, the school faced the same challenges. Communication is key; teacher and SEN coordinator first, then head, then governors. Personally, I wouldn’t consider legal action unless there was gross negligence.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I don’t know how Libre 2 works but I do know that Dexcom have a built in app on the G6 called “ share” which provides connectivity between multiple receivers and has been designed for those in a position like you find yourself. With the school failing to undertake what has been asked of them , now might be a good time to ask the NHS for a better system and one that you can monitor in real time.

I think the Libre version is called LibreLinkup - though I’ve never used it.

I think it only works anything like ‘realtime’ if the LibreView app on a smartphone is being used to scan and upload glucose readings to the cloud. I don’t know how it would work with the reader?

LibreLinkUp User Guide

www.librelinkup.com

 

[Vid]

My son, 8 years old, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last year.
Our school also does not follow the plan, does not check before PE and after ... Checks only before eating lunch.
I understand the school staff is very busy, we weren’t too worried too much.
But when he started coming back from school with a high blood sugar of 17mmol / L or too low, he felt bad, sweaty and tired, we decided we needed to change something.
We received a Libre sensor from the hospital, ordered MiaoMiao 2. I bought a smartwatch for a child and a phone with NFC.
The idea is for the child to receive a direct message to his watch from the Libre sensor when his blood sugar is too high or too low. He then tells the teachers, the teacher scans the Libre sensor with the phone and if the sugar level is too high will do a blood test and inject insulin.
When the school scans the Libre sensor with the phone, the data will automatically move to the cloud and we will see the data in real-time on our phones.
I haven’t done everything yet, a lot of information and sometimes I don’t understand what and how to do it myself...🙄

 

[Inka]

Hi @Vid 🙂 That sounds like a good set-up, but really the school should be following the Care Plan. Being busy isn’t an excuse at all. It also suggests they don’t really understand Type 1, and therefore could not follow the plan on other occasions too. That would concern me.