First Aid

 

 

The First Aid Policy and Procedures at Trinity School are in operation to ensure that every pupil, member of staff and visitor will be well looked after in the event of an accident or illness, no matter how minor or major.
On site primary care is provided by qualified Nurses and/or First Aiders who hold a valid First Aid at Work certificate. Training for this must be updated every three years. The rolling programme to ensure renewal of this training is overseen by the Assistant Estates Manager.
 
Current First Aiders:
Clair Jackson RGN and Jane Rose RGN – School Nurses
Jason Bird (CCF, Biology Department)
Andrew Cornick (PE, Head of Hockey)
Jerry Covell (Theatre Technician)
Grove du Toit (Head of Fifth Year)
Sam Fordham (English Department)
Andy Godfrey (Head of Drama Productions)
Phil Jupp (Porter)
Phil Mazur (Head of Drama) 
Robin McKinlay (Estates Manager)
Rebecca Petty (English Department)
Sam Powell (Head of Fourth Year)
Matthew Richbell (Head of PE)    
Richard Risebro (PE, Head of Cricket) 
Mario Sammut (Head Porter)
Dean Sammut (Porter)
Merry Sanders (Head of Third Year)
Tanya Scorer (CCF, Science Technician)
Tuppence Stevens-Lewis (Art & Photography Department)
James Tanner (CCF)
Peter Taylor (Groundsman)
Richard Walton (Groundsman)
Julia Wiskow (German Department, Head of Girls' Games)
Brian Buck (Driver)
Derek Dunkley (Driver)
Paul Oakes (Driver)
Brian Sells (Driver)
 
Qualified Appointed Persons who may also administer First Aid:
David Price (Head of First Year)
Helena Benzinski (Maths Department)
Tim Chesters (Assistant Director of Studies)
Julian Timm (Tutor for Admissions)
Mike Johnson (Biology Department)
Dave Urmston (Head of Economics)
 
 
Lists of these appropriately qualified persons are on display throughout the School and are updated as necessary by the Assistant Estates Manager. Whenever pupils are on the school site, at least one qualified person shall be present.
 
In the event of an accident all members of the school community should be aware of the support available and the procedures available to activate this.
The purpose of the Policy is therefore:
  •  To provide effective, safe First Aid cover for pupils, staff and visitors.
  •  To ensure that all staff and pupils are aware of the system in place.
To provide awareness of Health & Safety issues within school and on school trips, to identify, prevent or minimise, where possible, potential dangers or risk of accidents.
NB The term FIRST AIDER refers to those members of the school community who are in possession of a valid First Aid at Work certificate or equivalent. A list of appropriately qualified people will be widely displayed around the School
NURSES and FIRST AIDERS will:
  • Ensure that their qualification is always up to date.
  • Always attend a casualty when requested to do so and treat the casualty to the best of their ability in the safest way possible. This includes wearing gloves where any loss of blood or body fluid is evident, calling for help from other First Aiders or Emergency Services.
  • Help fellow First Aiders at an incident and provide support during the aftermath.
  • Take charge at any incident requiring first aid attention.
  • Insist that any casualty who has sustained a significant head injury is seen by professionals at the hospital, either by sending them directly to hospital or by asking parents to pick up pupils to take them to hospital;
  • Ensure that parents are aware of all head injuries promptly.
  • Contact as soon as possible the parents of any pupil who experiences a significant injury or illness.
  • Ensure that a pupil who is sent to hospital by ambulance is either:
    • Accompanied in the ambulance at the request of paramedics.
    • Followed to a hospital by a member of staff to act in loco parentis if a relative cannot be contacted.
    • Met at hospital by a relative.
  • The member of staff accompanying the casualty to hospital need not be the First Aider, however, an appropriate person should be sent. Liaison must occur with the Deputy Headmaster to ensure that lessons are covered in the event of an absent teacher
  • Ensure that all contaminated or used items are cleared away, using gloves, and every dressing etc. must be put in a yellow bag (available in medical room) for contaminated/used items and sealed tightly before disposing of the bag for collection by the authorised clinical waste disposal contractor.
  • Any bloodstains on the ground must be washed away thoroughly with an appropriate reagent.
  • Ensure that a record of each pupil attended to, the nature of the injury and any treatment given is passed to the Nurse for inclusion in the pupil's medical file. This includes any sports related injuries that occur at weekends or during out of hours activities. Accidents should be recorded in the "Accident Book" located in reception; this and all other treatment undertaken should be given in writing to the School Nurse either via email or as hard copy, it must include the date, time and place of the incident and the name of the ill or injured person. Also what happened to the person immediately afterwards must be entered and whether the parents were contacted straight away or at a later time.  Nurses will ensure that they record and retain sufficient information for the annual report to the Governors.
  • Nurses will ensure that they always obtain the history relating to a pupil not feeling well, particularly in the cases of headaches, to ensure that no injury has caused the pupil to feel unwell.
  • Nurses will ensure that at the start of each academic year Heads of Year and Form Tutors are provided with a list of pupils who are known to be asthmatic, anaphylactic, diabetic, and epileptic or have any other serious illness.
  • Nurses will maintain a file of up to date medical consent forms for every pupil in each year.
  • Nurses will ensure at the start of each term that all portable first aid kits, including first aid kits in vehicles and Departments are adequately stocked.
  • In the event of a notifiable accident or other occurrence reportable under the provisions of the RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations, 1995) the Accident Book must be completed by the Nurse who will advise the Estates Manager who is responsible for reporting all such occurrences to the HSE and for keeping the Health and Safety Officer of The Foundation fully informed.
RECEPTION / OFFICE STAFF will:
  • Call for a Nurse or qualified First Aider to treat any injured pupil unless they hold an approved qualification themselves. This should be done by telephone in the case of minor injuries or by a radio message in the case of serious injuries, giving the specific location of the casualty.
  • Support the First Aiders in calling for an ambulance or contacting relatives in an emergency.
  • Send pupils who simply do not feel well to the Medical Room and notify the Nurse or a qualified First Aider.
  • Medications of any sort can only be administered under the supervision of a Nurse.  First Aiders are not permitted to offer any medication
TEACHERS will:
  • Familiarise themselves with the first aid procedures in operation and ensure that they know who the current First Aiders are.
  • Be aware of specific medical details of individual pupils when publicised by Heads of Year.
  • Ensure that their tutees are aware of the procedures in operation.
  • Never move a casualty until they have been assessed by a qualified First Aider unless the casualty is in immediate danger.
  • Send for help to Reception as soon as possible either by a person or telephone, ensuring that the messenger knows the precise location of the casualty. Where possible, confirmation that the message has been received must be obtained.
  • Reassure, but never treat a casualty unless staff are in possession of a valid Emergency Aid in Schools Certificate or know the correct procedures; such staff can obviously start emergency aid until a First Aider arrives at the scene or instigate simple airway measures if clearly needed.
  • Send a pupil who has minor injuries who feels generally ‘unwell' to Reception if they are able to walk where staff will arrange for them to be seen by the Nurse or a First Aider. Such pupils should be accompanied.
  • Ensure that they have current medical information for every pupil that they take out on a school trip which indicates any specific conditions of which they should be aware or medications they will need to take with them, for example asthma pumps or anaphylaxis pens.
HEADMASTER and SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM will:
  • Ensure that first aid cover is available throughout the working hours of the school week.
  • Ensure all new staff are made aware of First Aid procedures in school.
THE GOVERNORS will:
  • Ensure that sufficient resources are provided to fulfil adequate First Aid cover as outlined in the Health & Safety [First Aid] Regulations 1981.
  • Monitor and respond to all matters relating to the Health and Safety of all persons on school premises.
THE EXECUTION OF THIS POLICY will be monitored by both the Trinity School Health and Safety Committee and The School Committee.
 
Treatment of some specific Medical Conditions
 
Details of how we treat pupils with asthma and anaphylaxis are contained in a separate specific policy, given the prevalence of these conditions among young people of secondary school age.
 
It is possible that children with medical conditions other than Asthma & Anaphylaxis will attend Trinity – eg Diabetes, Epilepsy Sickle Cell Anaemia, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia etc.
 
 All pupils with serious medical conditions will be encouraged to fully take part in School life whilst maintaining their independence and privacy and the School will always make such reasonable adjustments to its curriculum, facilities and schedules as are consistent with this aim.
 
In order to achieve this each child will be invited along with their parent/carer for an meeting with the School Nurses prior to starting school so that an individual assessment of their condition, needs & treatment can be made and agreed and an Individual Health Plan established. This will include details of treatment regime, consent and full contact details.
 
 This will be made available to all relevant staff via Staff Notice Boards & the Common Room Medical List. In addition, staff meetings at the start of term and regular Monday morning staff meetings are used for sharing details of the specific care of such children.
 
The parents will be responsible for ensuring that all supplies of medicines required are in stock along with written administration details.
 
Staff will be aware of any pupils with specific medical conditions in their care during off school activity and will ensure the IHP & emergency medication required is available for those trips.
 
The School Nurses will be available to advise staff on specific medical needs and issues as they arise.
 
Diabetes
 Diabetes is a long term medical condition in which the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body is unable to use it properly. This happens because:
-          The pancreas does not make any or too little insulin
-          The insulin produced does not work correctly
-          A combination of both the above.
 At Trinity all pupils with Diabetes will be encouraged to fully take part in school life maintaining their independence and privacy. In order to achieve this, the following guidelines will be implemented:
 
The School Nurse will inform all relevant staff of any pupils with diabetes. A list of all pupils will be displayed on Staff notice boards & on the Common Room List.
 
Each pupil will have a Health care plan specific to their needs in agreement with the parents who will be responsible for ensuring that all details of regime, treatment are updated to the School Nurse including full contact details.
 
The parents should ensure that all supplies of snacks, glucose therapy, insulin and blood glucose testing are kept in stock and in date.
 
Staff will be aware of any pupils with diabetes in their care during off school activity. They should feel confident on how to recognise a Hypo and its treatment.
The School Nurse will provide regular updates to staff on the specific requirements for each child and advise re management of hypoglycaemic events.
 
It is vital that the diabetic pupil have regular meals and snacks in order to maintain stable blood sugar levels. Teachers understand that the pupil may need to drink or eat snacks during lessons in order to prevent the possibility of a “Hypo”.
Priority should be given at lunch time to all pupils with diabetes and they should be allowed extra portions if required. The catering staff will be issued a list of all pupils with diabetes alongside their photo for ease of recognition.
 
Pupils with diabetes should carry their own supplies of extra snacks/drinks when they take part in strenuous activities. Emergency supplies of Glucose drinks, tablets, gel and biscuits will be kept in the Sports Centre & Medical Room.
 
The School will provide a safe environment where the pupil can store and administer his insulin if desired. The pupil may wish to carry his insulin around- in this respect the independence and wishes of the pupils should be respected.
 
Sharps boxes will be provided in the medical room for safe disposal of needles/vials
 
 
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is currently defined as a tendency to have recurrent seizures (sometimes called fits). A seizure is caused by a sudden burst of excess electrical activity in the brain, causing a temporary disruption in the normal message passing between brain cells. This disruption results in the brain’s messages becoming halted or mixed up.
The brain is responsible for all the functions of the body, so what is experienced during a seizure will depend on where in the brain the epileptic activity begins and how widely and rapidly it spreads. For this reason, there are many different types of seizure and each person will experience epilepsy in a way that is unique to them.
 
At Trinity all pupils with Epilepsy will be encouraged to fully take part in school life maintaining their independence and privacy.
 
 In order to achieve this the following guidelines will be implemented:
 
The School Nurse will inform all relevant staff of any pupils with epilepsy. A list of all pupils will be displayed on Staff notice boards and on the Common Room List.
 
Each pupil will have a Health care plan specific to their needs in agreement with the parents who will be responsible for ensuring that all details of regime and treatment are updated to the School Nurse including full contact details.
 
The parents should ensure that all supplies of medication required are kept in stock and in date.
 
Staff will be aware of any pupils with epilepsy in their care during off school activity and will ensure the IHP & emergency medication required is available. They should feel confident on how to recognise a seizure and its treatment.
 
The School Nurse will provide updates to staff on the specific needs of any children with epilepsy and will advise on the management of any seizures.
 
Locations of First Aid boxes
 
First Aid boxes are located in:
The School Office
The Medical Room
All Chemistry, Biology and General Science Laboratories
Laboratory prep rooms
CCF Orderly Room
Rifle Range
Maintenance workshop
Groundsmens’ Office
On board each minibus and tractor
Old Gym
Green Room (adjacent to the Mitre Theatre)
Art Department Office
Design Technology Department (x3)
Swimming Pool (poolside)
Shaw Building Squash courts kitchenette
Sandilands Pavilion (Staff Changing room)
All Astroturf pitches
Porters’ Office
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Updated: June 2010