RCN: Health survey shows why we need school nurses
Published: 18 December 2008
The RCN has welcomed the involvement of school nurses in healthy eating education for children in England and has urged the Government to ensure that children have access to school nurses.
The RCN has said that TV advertising campaigns alone are not enough and children must learn in school about the importance of healthy eating and exercise.
The College’s comments come in response to the publication of the Health Survey for England 2007 results.
Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:
“School nurses are very effective at getting children into healthy eating habits and are vital in the fight against childhood obesity. The problem is that there simply aren’t enough of them. Government pledges to ensure that every child has access to a school nurse require serious attention”.
In 2005 the Government White Paper for Health: Choosing Health: making healthy choices easier pledged by 2010 “to have at least one full-time, year-round, qualified school nurse working with each cluster or group of primary schools and the related secondary school”.