Best Practice

Stocking emergency inhalers in school

Legislation and guidance Government policy Pupil wellbeing
A year ago, the law changed to allow schools to buy emergency inhalers without prescription. However, anecdotal evidence gathered by the British Journal of School Nursing and SecEd shows that some schools are unaware of the changes or have encountered challenges in implementation. Caroline Voogd explains

A snapshot survey of schools by SecEd and our sister title, the British Journal of School Nursing, has shown that some are still unaware of their right to hold an emergency reliever inhaler on the premises without prescription

In October 2014, an amendment to the Human Medicines Regulations came into force, allowing all primary and secondary schools in the UK to buy salbutamol inhalers for use in emergencies.

According to figures from Asthma UK, one in 11 children in the UK is receiving treatment for asthma, an estimated 75 per cent of hospital admissions for asthma are avoidable, and as many as
90 per cent of deaths from asthma are preventable.

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