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Headteacher apologises for children accessing diabetes testing kit

DCUK NewsBot

DCUK NewsBot

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A headteacher has apologised after 14 children were taken to hospital after being pricked by a needle from a diabetes testing kit at their school in Wales. Caroline May, the headteacher at St Joseph's Junior School in Port Talbot, Wales said staff were now "reviewing procedures" about storing medical equipment. According to a parent of one of the children at the school, the diabetes kit had not been returned to its safe place of storage and was removed from a teacher's desk. It is believed that the needle prick the children experienced was from a blood glucose testing lancet and not from an injection. The group of pupils were taken to Neath Port Talbot hospital by teaching staff last week and were then moved to Morriston Hospital where doctors saw each child and offered them appropriate advice and treatment. Mrs May said: "The school would again like to express its sincere apologies to all pupils involved. "All 14 pupils involved have been assessed by medical professionals and we have had reassurances that there is no further cause for concern. The incident was not solely the actions of one pupil, but involved a group of friends. "The school has since met with the parents of these pupils to discuss the issue and is reviewing its procedures around pupils who need to self-medicate to mitigate any future risks of such an incident reoccurring." This is an extremely unfortunate incident which, whilst thankfully rare, was entirely preventable. It is unclear how the children gained access to the testing kit, but diabetes equipment such as a testing kit is not to be played with and, if lost, should be returned as appropriate to the owner. Earlier this year a toddler was pricked by a lancet from a diabetes testing kit in a Wetherspoon pub.

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Back when I was a kid in school the class would likely have been given a group scolding and reminder not to touch things that didn't belong to us, then a quick swipe with merthiolate or mercurochrome, and sent on our way.
 
SaskiaKC said:
Back when I was a kid in school the class would likely have been given a group scolding and reminder not to touch things that didn't belong to us, then a quick swipe with merthiolate or mercurochrome, and sent on our way.
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The instigator of the b & e into the teachers desk, would have got the cane across their backside when I went to school.

It's very hard to get good Mercurochrome here now, the last bottle I got was very watery,
 
I thought mercurochrome was banned. It contains mercury which could be absorbed through the skin or a cut etc.
You would think there are enough warnings about needles, HIV etc to make students wary of 'sharps' in general.
No accounting for curiosity, i guess.
 
kitedoc said:
I thought mercurochrome was banned. It contains mercury which could be absorbed through the skin or a cut etc.
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The last time I bought it was about five years ago from a pharmacy, I think it is still on sale but without the mercury goodness in it.

I have been using Betadin ointment in the first aid box, which does the job.
 
I haven't seen Mercurochrome or Merthiolate in about 50 years. I don't know if they're still available here or not. I just remember the pain of having a raw skinned knee being tapped with the little glass applicator of Mercurochrome -- but it was worth it to have that lovely red-orange color staining your skin!
 
kitedoc said:
Iodine formulations sting like crazy too!!!
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There are a lot of good stingy stuff out there, we had a bottle of Friars Balsam in the first aid kit at the wholesale butchery I worked at.

We had the builders in and one of the builders and a Italian feller gashed his hand, I was going to put hydrogen peroxide on it, but my boss said to use the FB as it was better at cleaning wounds.

You can imagine the cries of anguish to Jesus, Mary and whatever patron saints he had.

I learnt a lot of new ways of stringing expletives into a poem after pouring it on.
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This is only the second time I've ever seen mention of Friars Balsam online.

The first time was when I was looking up a horse's pedigree and came across an 1885 stallion named Friars Balsam.

Now I know where he got his name. :) Horse history is an interesting branch of general history. The things you learn!
 
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