Children in Northern Ireland ‘missing out’ on their childhood
05 May 2009

Asthma UK Northern Ireland is launching a report for World Asthma Day (5 May) which paints a bleak picture of life at school for the 36,000 children with asthma in Northern Ireland.

The report, called Missing Out, is based on conversations with children and young people from Northern Ireland and across the UK, as well as feedback from teachers. It shows how teachers’ pre-conceptions and a general lack of understanding about asthma are causing children with asthma to ‘miss out’ or be excluded from normal childhood experiences.

Asthma affects an alarming one in eleven children in Northern Ireland meaning the country has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma anywhere in the world. On average almost five children a day are admitted to hospital because of the condition, yet worryingly over a third of children and their parents are not confident that their class teacher would know what to do if they had an asthma attack.

Half the children interviewed for the report said that their asthma meant they had problems joining in with lessons and going on school trips, and almost three quarters said they had problems joining in PE lessons. A further 40% said their asthma stopped them having fun.

A frequent worry among the children was that teachers simply didn’t understand the condition and that as a result they were either placed in a ‘protective bubble’, being banned from taking part in certain activities, or were dismissed by ill-informed teachers as ‘melodramatic’ or ‘over-reacting’. One young person was told by their chemistry teacher that their asthma made them a ‘liability’ and was asked to stand outside the classroom while an experiment took place.

It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind teachers’ lack of awareness about dealing with asthma in the classroom, but Asthma UK Northern Ireland believes that the lack of direction from the Northern Ireland Assembly on how teachers should support children with asthma is an important factor. Also, there is no system in place to audit the effectiveness of school asthma policies or whether they are even being used and schools must contend with a severe lack of school nurses available to help them carry out the policies and train teachers on how to use them.

Until teachers are empowered to feel fully confident about dealing with asthma in the classroom, children with asthma are at risk of missing out on their childhood by being excluded from PE and school trips, being prevented from playing with their friends or in the very worst cases, being subjected to unnecessary and traumatising dashes to A&E.

To support schools to better care for children with asthma, Asthma UK Northern Ireland is asking the Assembly to:

• Further enhance and fully implement and monitor the Service Framework for Respiratory Health and Wellbeing in Northern Ireland. Asthma UK Northern Ireland welcomes the standards set out for children with asthma and has suggested how the framework could be improved to ensure the highest quality of services. Adequate resources will be required to ensure that the standards set out in the document are successfully implemented and that inequalities in the care that children and young people with asthma receive are addressed.
• Provide access to a school nurse in every school. School nurses can play a key role in supporting the health and well-being of children and young people and they can also advise and support teachers.
• Ensure that inspections of schools include indicators on how well they prioritise the health and well-being of pupils. The Northern Ireland Education and Training Inspectorate provide inspection services for the Department of Education, the Department for Employment and Learning and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. More emphasis is required on this as it plays a key role in ensuring that children and young people reach their full academic, social and emotional potential.
• Commission the Asthma UK Alert to Asthma training programme in schools across Northern Ireland via the Department of Education. The Alert to Asthma sessions provide training for early years carers and teachers in the basic understanding of asthma, its treatment and knowledge of what to do if a child in their care has an asthma attack.

Asthma UK Northern Ireland is also asking schools to ensure they have an asthma policy in place and that all school staff, including both teachers and support staff, are familiar with it and their responsibilities for implementing it. A helpful resource, the Medical Conditions at School Policy Pack, which was developed by Asthma UK and a number of other charities is available to download from the website asthma.org.uk.

Joan O’Hagan, Director of Asthma UK Northern Ireland, says: ‘The false assumptions that lead some teachers to ban children with asthma from taking part in PE and other school activities, demonstrates the same lack of knowledge that would make those teachers unable to help if a child in their classroom were to have an asthma attack.

‘There is no need to wrap children up in cotton wool but it is every school’s responsibility to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and resources to protect and support the children in their care. This will ensure that 36,000 children with asthma in Northern Ireland do not “miss out” on their childhood.’

To discuss the key issues highlighted in the Missing Out report Asthma UK Northern Ireland will be holding a special event on World Asthma Day, Tuesday 5 May. The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People will be the keynote speaker at this event, to be held at the office of the Children’s Commissioner in Belfast. It will also be attended by local children with asthma.

To coincide with World Asthma Day, Asthma UK is launching its first ever fundraising week from 2-10 May, called ‘Putting Asthma in the Limelight’, which will raise money to help children with asthma. If you would like to help raise money or make a donation, please visit asthma.org.uk/limelight.

1. For further information, contact the Asthma UK media office on 020 7786 4949 or at mediaoffice@asthma.org.uk
2. For up-to-date news on asthma, information and publications, visit the Asthma UK website asthma.org.uk.
3. Confidential advice about asthma is available by speaking to a nurse on the Asthma UK Adviceline, on 0800 121 44 62 (Monday – Friday, from 9.00am-5.00pm). Or email an asthma nurse at asthma.org.uk/adviceline.
4. Asthma UK’s Missing Out report was funded by a grant from NAPP Pharmaceuticals Limited.

• 1 in 11 children in Northern Ireland has asthma – that’s on average 2 children in every classroom.
• Every year, the equivalent of a classroom of children dies in the UK as a result of asthma (in 2006, 40 children died under the age of 14).
• 1 in 8 children with asthma symptoms have attacks so bad they cannot speak
• Nearly a quarter of children with asthma miss six or more days of school a year as a result of their condition.
• Northern Ireland has some of the highest rates of asthma in the world.
• There are around 91 emergency admissions a day for children with asthma in the UK

Background on the Missing Out report

• In 2008 Asthma UK Scotland spoke to children and young people with asthma as part of a wider review of services for children and young people. The resulting report, In Their Own Words, painted a bleak picture and showed for the first time how children and young people with asthma were missing out or felt excluded from normal everyday activities because of their condition.
• Between February and March 2009, seven focus groups were held in England, Northern Ireland and Wales with children and young people aged between 7-18 years old.

• Westminster Reception, London (5 May). The All Party Parliamentary Group on Asthma and Asthma UK will host an evening reception to be attended by MPs, Peers, stakeholders and children and young people with asthma.  A young person with asthma will speak at the event and a Minister has also been invited.
• Children’s Asthma Summit, Yorkshire and Humberside (5 May). An event hosted by Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority for local healthcare professionals, managers and local authority Directors of Children's services. Rosie Newbigging, Executive Director Nations, Regions and Services, Asthma UK will be one of the speakers.
• Children's Hospital Conference, Birmingham (5 May). A half day conference hosted by Birmingham Children’s Hospital for secondary school PE teachers and school nurses.
• Youth Conference, Cardiff (5 May). This event, hosted by Asthma UK Cymru, will see children and young people with asthma from asthma hot spots in Wales visiting the Senedd to speak with their own Assembly Members and ministers about the issues facing them.
• Senedd turns lime, Cardiff (5 May). To show the Welsh Assembly Government’s support for this issue, Jeff Cuthbert, Assembly Member for Caerphilly and Chair of the Healthy Living Group, will be sponsoring Asthma UK Cymru to light up the Senedd in lime green on the evening of World Asthma Day.  Other Welsh landmarks will also be lit up in lime green and Assembly Members will be wearing lime green ribbons to show their support.
• Children’s Commissioner Event, Belfast (5 May). Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People will be the keynote speaker at this Asthma UK Northern Ireland event which will also feature involvement from local children with asthma.
• Cross Party Group, Edinburgh (5 May). Hosted by Asthma UK Scotland where children from the Asthma Committee at Auchinairn Primary in Bishopbriggs will put on a short performance. There will also be a talk from an asthma nurse at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Hospital.