SEVERE ALLERGIC REACTIONS / ASTHMA

In recent years Community Paediatricians / Public Health Physicians Group have required information from all schools with regard to the number of students with severe allergic reactions and we wish to continue to request this vital information for our own records.

If you son/daughter suffers from any of the severe allergic reactions mentioned below, please inform the Head of Year 7, in writing, when they join Year 7 in September.

The school must be given any prescribed medication, in original packs, to keep in case of an emergency including inhalers and adrenaline kits (EpiPen).

Students must also carry their own Inhaler/AAI. You will be asked to completed a form to allow us to administer the medication. For students who have been diagnosed with Asthma or Allergy and have been prescribed an Inhaler or AAI, you will also need to complete the Emergency Inhaler Consent Form and/or Emergency Adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) Consent Form. These forms give the school consent to use an emergency AAI/Inhaler if a student does not have their medication on them, if the prescribed medication is out of date, or if it is not working.

“A severe allergic reaction is an abnormal response of the body to some trigger. Triggers include food such as nuts and substances such as bee and wasp stings. An episode might start with swelling, itching and a rash and then progress to wheezing in the chest. Severe swelling of the face and throat might further impede breathing and deterioration could take the form of collapse and loss of consciousness.

Severe reactions such as this are very rare.”

“Treatment given within the first half hour of an episode can be life saving and comprises of adrenaline given by injection.

Children known to be a risk of a severe reaction are usually provided with personal emergency adrenaline kits by their paediatrician and training in administration can be offered to adult carers.”

(The Community Paediatricians/Public Health Physicians Group).