Children and young people will now be able to see a school nurse to discuss their health issues during school holidays as part of an expansion of the Care Group’s School Health and Wellbeing Service in Tower Hamlets.
Through health screenings, programmes, and drop-ins, school nurses play an important part in supporting the physical, emotional, and mental health of children, young people, and families within the school setting. However, this support was only available during term time, leaving a gap during school holidays.
The School Health drop-in service will be available for young people aged 13-19 to drop in to see a nurse, one day a week every school holiday, starting from this upcoming February half term. The service will be based in the youth-friendly venue of Spotlight, Poplar HARCA's award-winning youth service based in Langdon Park.
The Care Group already offers young people friendly and confidential 1 to 1 GP appointments through our Health service, and now they will also have access to a nurse who can support them through a wide range of concerns including anxiety issues, sleep problems, concerns about their diet or healthy eating options, self-harming and more. For prescribing or diagnosing concerns, the nurse can refer the young person to Health Spot.
Geraldine Collins, School Health & Wellbeing Service Lead, said: “We wanted to ensure that young people had easy access to a nurse, even during the school holidays. Choosing Spotlight as a venue was easy as it is a place that young people already frequent in large numbers for various activities; in addition, the Care Group’s Health Spot service is based there every Tuesday.”
“Another important consideration was our aim to reach young people who are not in schools, for example, those who are home-schooled. The Schools Health drop-in service gives every young person access to a school nurse to discuss a health issue that they are concerned about.”
The Schools Health drop-in service is open every Wednesday of school holidays between the hours of 11am to 1pm.
Langdon Park, 30 Hay Currie St, London E14 6GN.
