Primary school nurse pilot project report

About this report

We carried out a pilot project with Firs Primary School, to understand the extent to which the school nurse service met local and national best practice guidelines regarding health service design and delivery for children and young people. 

We worked with 12 children, who carried out their own survey and developed their own recommendations. 

Key findings

• 50% ad met their school nurse team and described staff as 'caring', 'helpful' and 'explains things well'. 
• 62% think it is not easy to see the school nurse team.
• There is a lack of knowledge and awareness of how to access the school nurse service, what the service provides and whether the service is confidential. 
• Feeling nervous, scared, embarrassed or worried were other reasons stopping children from visiting the school nurse. 
• Some see the service as providing support for issues such as emotional wellbeing, growing up, weight and bullying. 

Recommendations

• The Firs Primary school nurse team deliver a school assembly with content suggested by Healthwatch Juniors. 
• Healthwatch Juniors plan and deliver a school assembly sharing their survey findings and recommendations. 
• Healthwatch Juniors develop posters advertising the service. 
• The Trafford School Nurse team will carry out assemblies in all primary schools with established school nurse drop-ins. 
• This report will be shared at a Trafford Primary Head Teachers Conference in June 2015. 
• Repeating this evaluation at Firs Primary school in September 2015 to evaluate the impact of the work carried out. 
• Implement the four Healthwatch Junior recommendations across all Trafford school nurse teams and primary schools. 
• Service user evaluations of the school nurse service in all primary schools across the borough.