Successful Allergy Awareness Scheme For Schools Across Wrexham and Flintshire

A specialist nurse at Wrexham Maelor Hospital is leading a pioneering allergy awareness training scheme for staff in educational settings across Wrexham and Flintshire.

Lisa Owen, specialist nurse in paediatric allergies, holds a weekly clinic at Wrexham Maelor Children’s Outpatients department, but she also leads the allergy awareness training scheme.

She runs a training day every year for school nurses giving them an update on the latest information and best practice for dealing with children with allergies.

In turn, the school nurses train teachers working in local schools how to look after the children in their classes who can have a wide range of allergies.

“Allergies are exploding in the UK. Education and having good awareness of triggers, signs and symptoms is absolutely key to managing allergies,” said Lisa.

“Raising awareness is really important because so many people have allergies. It can have a big impact on their lives and it affects the people around them too, especially where children are concerned because they have limited control over their environment and need help to manage their situation.

“We’ve had real success with working with schools and nurseries running this scheme in the East. I run the training day for all the school nurses in Wrexham and Flintshire every year to educate them on how to deal with allergies in the children they’ll be working with.”

Lisa added: “Parents can feel anxious when they put their children into the care of others, especially when they are still very young and the teaching staff who work with them can also feel nervous about how to best look after them.

“It’s great to give teaching staff more confidence in dealing with allergies. They can help children avoid their allergy triggers and also recognise symptoms and look after them if they do have a reaction.

“The most common allergies in children are eggs and milk which can mean that even seemingly simple things like a child bringing in a birthday cake for their classmates can lead to problems for children with allergies.”

Louise Sanger, school nurse at St David’s School, Saltney understands the importance of having up to date allergies training as not only does she work with pupils with allergies, but also her son Lloyd has been living with food allergies since he was five.

Louise said the training she receives every year from Lisa is vital to helping children with allergies manage themselves and lead a normal life.

“Lisa is excellent, she really knows what she’s talking about, it’s clear and I feel confident to deliver the training to staff afterwards,” said Louise.

“Every September she gives us an allergy update so we can train school staff in all aspects of allergy care. We look at the causes, what to look for if someone is having a reaction and what to do next depending on the severity of the reaction and we train staff how to administer auto injector pens.

“We also do a lot of work with specific children who have more severe allergies and work with them on their care plans so they are looked after in school.

“She’s great as she’s always at the other end of the phone for advice too.

“As a parent, the treatment at the Maelor has been excellent, they’ve known my son Lloyd here since he was 5 and we have always felt supported in dealing with managing his allergies.

Louise’s son Lloyd, 15, who has an egg allergy said: “It bother me sometimes because I’m allergic to eggs so I can’t eat some of what kids my age eat like cakes or doughnuts. I have to take my lunches to school with me. Even my favourite treat ice cream has to be checked as it can have eggs in it.

“I have been away abroad on school trips though and I can do most things I want to. I just have to be careful. It gives me confidence because I know my teachers know what to do if I become ill.”