Health care at school.

Sometimes a student also needs support from health care. For example, because they are chronically ill or have a disability. Then medical actions or personal care are needed during school. For example, giving medicine, tube feeding, or helping to go to the toilet. Organizing this care is mainly the responsibility of the parents. Giving care is not a task of the school. A teacher or school is not obliged to perform medical actions or personal care and can refuse to do so. But the school must check for each student, together with the parents, how care during school time can best be arranged. Think about when this must happen, who must do it, and where it can be done.

Medical actions

Some giving of medicine or other care counts as medical action. Think of tube feeding and giving an injection. Who is allowed to do medical actions is set by the law on individual healthcare professions. A teacher usually is not allowed to do these actions. A teacher can get permission when a qualified doctor thinks the teacher is capable. The doctor then gives the teacher instructions and a signed written statement. Keep in mind the teacher can refuse to do medical actions if they feel not capable. This counts even if the school has agreements with parents.

Every school has a medical action protocol that describes their policy and how they handle medical actions. Ask the school for this protocol.

Paying for care at school

How care at school is paid for depends on the care your child needs and the indication your child has.

• If your child has a long-term care indication, then care at school is paid by the long-term care act. This can be guidance, care, and nursing. The care office arranges this with the care providers.
• If your child does not have a long-term care indication, then paying depends on the care your child needs:
  Guidance and support care at school: youth act. Guidance and support care are the responsibility of the municipality, also during school hours. This is in the youth act. It depends if the guidance is care in kind or personal budget. In kind, the municipality pays the care provider who then works at school. With a personal budget, the parents get the budget from the municipality. Parents then pay from that budget the guide who supports the child at school.
  Nursing and care at school: health insurance act. Nursing and related personal care during school fall under health insurance. Parents make agreements with the school about this. This also applies to a combination of intensive nursing, care, and guidance (formerly intensive child care).

Make agreements

If a student needs health care during school, it is important for parents, student, and school to make agreements. This gives clarity when care agreements are well recorded. It is best to do this in a talk at the start of each school year. Teachers and or the care professional involved can join. The care need and the situation in class determine what care is needed and who can best give it.

It is important to align care well at home and school. For example, in an education care arrangement. This can also be discussed in the talk. Sometimes it is useful to also include the municipality, the care office, or the care organization in the talk.

Help and support

Organizing care in class can be difficult in practice. There can also be questions about paying for it. For more information, contact our information point at 088-6050101 or vraag@oudersonderwijs.nl.

Carefree to school offers more information and useful materials to make agreements about care and support with the school.

For more help and support in organizing care, education care consultants are available. Our information point can offer more information about this.