Making sure children with health conditions get the support they need
If you have any questions or are seeking more advice please send us an email with this form, and you can access the websites of Alliance members and others related organisations below.
The Health Conditions in Schools Alliance (HCSA) is made up of over 25 organisations, including charities, healthcare professional groups and trade unions who work collaboratively to make sure children with health conditions get the support they need in school.The remit of the HCSA has focused initially on England but we have recently merged with our sister coalition Care in Schools Alliance in Wales, and are also exploring how to extend our remit to cover other UK nations.We are here to offer guidance and tools to schools, parents and carers who are looking after children with health conditions.
On our resources page you can also:
In 2014 the Alliance, supported by many parents, successfully campaigned the Government to amend the Children and Families Act 2014 to include a duty on schools in England to support children with health conditions.
The duty is accompanied by statutory guidance from the Department of Education which schools in England must now follow.
• Download the Department for Education’s statutory guidance about the support that pupils with medical conditions should receive at school in England.
• Download our explanation of the legal situation in each nation in the UK in supporting children with medical conditions in schools.
The HCSA continues to work to ensure that children with health conditions in England receive the support they deserve at school, with a focus on improving the inconsistent implementation of the duty and statutory guidance included in the 2014 Act.
For more detail on our work, please visit the ‘Our Work’ page.
We believe that children with health conditions should be well supported and able to flourish in school, and that good care depends on these key elements of support:
Medical conditions policy
All schools should have a medical conditions policy in place. This should be readily accessible to parents and school staff and reviewed regularly. It should outline arrangements which should be in place to ensure that children with medical conditions can access and enjoy the same opportunities as any other child, and take into account how a young person’s condition might affect their learning.
The school’s policy should set out what constitutes unacceptable practice, for example:
• Preventing a child from accessing their medication or medical technology.
• Requiring/expecting parents to come into school or accompany their child on school trips
• Penalising a child for absences related to their condition.
You can find a template Medical Conditions policy on our Resources page.
Individual healthcare plans
We believe that all children who are diagnosed with a long-term medical condition are entitled to an Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP), and call for these to be mandatory for children with long-term health conditions .IHPs set out what needs to be done, when and by whom in order to support a specific child with a medical condition. IHPs should include key information such as what to do in an emergency as well as support for the child’s educational, social and emotional needs.
You can find a template Medical Conditions policy on our Resources page.
Collaboration between with pupils, families and healthcare teams
We believe that effective collaboration can make all the difference to a child or young person in school. Good, effective collaboration should include:
• Involving children and young people in discussions about their support needs
• Ongoing communication with parents/carers
• Liaising with school staff with responsibility for medical conditions, and nursing team and designated Medical and Clinical Officers where relevant
• Involving other healthcare professionals, including GPs, paediatricians and specialist nurses fortraining needs.
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