Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Previous UK study (2009) showed that parents rather than school staff were responsible for supporting the majority of children with insulin administration (IA) whilst at school. Since then, the law has changed and the Children and Families Act 2014 (UK) places a legal duty on schools to provide the right care and support.

Objective: To establish what support & facilities are available to Children & Young people (CYP) with TID whilst in school.

Methodology: CYP with T1D attending Sandwell and West Birmingham Diabetes services completed a questionnaire (June 2016 to date). Questions related to if school staff were available to supervise IA or to offer assistance with carbohydrate counting (CC), presence or not of a designated room at school for blood glucose monitoring (BGM) and IA.

Results: In total, 71 children (5–16 years) attending 48 different schools completed the questionnaire; 25 in Primary School (PS), 46 in Secondary School (SS). Help with IA was required by 27/71 CYP. In 22/27, lunchtime IA was undertaken by school staff and in 5 by parents only. 64/71 CYP confirmed their school had a designated room for BGM and IA. In 5/71, there was no DR and two had to use the disabled toilet. In 8 cases, the DR did not have hand washing facilities. Only 54/71 CYP used the designated rooms, the rest preferring to use other locations. 21.7% of children in SS reported that they did not have access to sharps box. Regarding CC, 41/71 had packed lunches which were already carbohydrate counted from home. Of those that ate school dinners and required help with CC, help was given by school staff in 5/10.

Conclusion: Compared to 2009 study, there has been significant improvement in support for IA in schools. Further work needs to be done to ensure all CYP have access to the necessary facilities for IA, BGM and support with CC.