School nurses under pressure to train teachers about epilepsy

School nurses are under pressure to educate teachers on caring for children suffering epileptic episodes despite feeling inadequately trained themselves, a conference heard. 

Attendees at the annual RCN school nurses conference in London this week said a lack of access to epilepsy training and specialist epilepsy nurses was a concern. 

Julia Beaumont, a specialist practitioner in school nursing from Dorset, said one school she works with refused to accept a child with epilepsy in September until teaching staff have undergone training. 

‘We do not get much epilepsy training,’ she told the conference.

‘There are no specialist epilepsy nurses so we have been asked to do the training yet cannot get training ourselves until September. This puts a lot of pressure on us.’ 

The nurse went on to call for standardised training packs for conditions such as epilepsy to help school nurses train colleagues.

‘It would help us know we are giving out the right information,’ she added.