Medical Care Services at Oundle
This section aims to give a brief overview of the medical care and facilities provided for boarders at Oundle School. Pages such as this cannot cover every eventuality; please contact Matrons, Sanatorium or one of the School Doctors if further information is needed.
Sanatorium
The Sanatorium was built in 1990. We have five twin bedded “wards”, waiting room, consulting room, treatment room, nursing room and television/counselling room. During term time there is always 24 hour nursing cover, normally with one nurse, but during busy periods we have two nurses on duty. The school doctors perform surgeries at the school each weekday: Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. There is normally a doctor around during Saturday afternoon sport. Doctors can be called upon in an emergency at any time they are needed.
Medicals
Medicals are performed on all new boarders. The purpose of these medicals is largely two-fold:
1. A "getting to know you" exercise. We get to know any medical problems that pupils may have, and they become familiarised with the Sanatorium.
2. A brief medical where we pay particular attention to factors which are important to education and which may not have been examined in the past, particularly eyesight and hearing. Boarders have their medicals during their first few weeks at the school.
NHS or Private
The School Doctors (General Practitioners), Dr David Clayton and Dr Kathryn Newell both work within the NHS. It is on strong recommendations of the Department of Health and the Medical Officers of Schools Association (MOSA) that pupils at boarding schools are registered at the School. This makes good sense for two reasons. Firstly more time is spent at school than at home and secondly when at home the parents are in a position of knowing all the important medical details whereas those at the school may not if they are not registered with the School Doctor.
Referrals on from the GP can always be made on the NHS, but unfortunately this is often not as prompt as we would like. Many parents choose to have private cover and the school offers a scheme through the Bursar’s office if parents choose to join.
To keep parents informed, you will be notified of referrals to consultants. You will usually be notified via Matron.
Matrons
From a medical point of view the Matron’s main role is that of a “mother”. As a rule they do not have any medical qualifications. They will treat minor illnesses such as coughs, colds, bugs etc like any mother would, turning for help to either the nurses or doctors whenever needed. They give out paracetamol, ibuprofen, simple cough linctus, indigestion remedies and other over the counter remedies under protocols from the school doctor to treat minor ailments. Matrons will take pupils to Casualty and the hospital when necessary and on a medical front, will largely be the go-between between home and school. It is obviously very important that Matrons and the rest of the medical staff at the school are aware of any drugs, medicines, treatments that you would rather your child did not receive.
Consent
The law on this is quite straightforward from a medical point of view. Any child over the age of 16 is able to give consent for their own treatment. Any child under the age of 16, if thought to be mature enough, is also able to give consent. The duty of confidentiality owed to a person under 16 is as great as that owed to any other person.
The commonest time that we need consent is for routine immunisations and travel vaccinations. For routine immunisations, for example Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio, parents will be written to. For travel vaccinations, parents will either have contacted us requesting the vaccinations for a family holiday or we at the school will contact parents if vaccinations are required for a school trip. The Headmaster and Matrons will act in loco-parentis and will, in incredibly rare situations, give consent for emergency treatment and operations.
Confidentiality
Most medical matters within the school do not need “strict confidentiality”, for example a child with a sore throat or sprained ankle would approach Matron. Matron will send the child to the doctor with a “chit” and the doctor will treat the child as appropriate and return the chit to Matron with his/her instructions on. For the vast majority of cases, it is in the pupil’s best interest that Matron, teachers, sports staff etc know what is happening and there are no difficulties regarding confidentiality.
From a medical point of view I can think of no instance when I would not strongly encourage a pupil to discuss all aspects of their medical care with their parents and this is something we would always strongly encourage pupils to do. Having said this, the law on confidentiality and consent is clear.
Counselling
Our counsellor, Amanda Langford comes to the School every Tuesday and alternate Thursday. Pupils are able to book to see her via a confidential online booking system.
Local Hospitals
We tend to use Peterborough Hospitals (NHS) as our main local referral source, where there is also a very good private hospital, the Fitzwilliam Hospital. There are times when it would be more appropriate to use hospitals nearer patient’s homes, for example towards the end of term, and this is something that can quite easily be arranged.
Dentists
There are both NHS and private dentist practices in Oundle. Both are happy to treat pupils if emergencies arise. We do however, strongly advise that all routine care is carried out at home during the holidays.
Physiotherapy
We do have both NHS (if patient is over 16) and private physiotherapy in Oundle. We also have access to NHS physiotherapy for those under 16 and private physiotherapy in Peterborough. On the NHS we can only refer to physiotherapists, but there are also good local osteopaths, which we could refer to if parents wish, and if this is medically appropriate.
Communication
If two-way communication between home and school works well everything runs more smoothly. The obvious link in this chain is the pupil, on occasions this is not as reliable as we would like, Matron should know everything that is going on.
If your child has any medical care or vaccinations at home during the holidays please ensure that the information gets passed on to the school.
Surgery address:
Dr David Clayton or Dr Kathryn Newell
The Surgery, Glapthorn Road, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4JA
Telephone: Surgery 01832 273408
Sanatorium 01832 277200
Fax 01832 277161
E-mail:
Dr Clayton clayton@oundleschool.org.uk;
Dr Newell newell@oundleschool.org.uk;
Sanatorium sanatorium@oundleschool.org.uk