AN investigation is being carried to try and discover why it is becoming so hard to hire fully qualified school nurses.

After several rounds of recruitment, Swindon Borough Council has still not managed to find all the staff it needs.

Principal officer for health and wellbeing for children, families and community health at the council, Louise Campion, said although it is currently stretched, the team of school nurses are still able to carry out all their normal duties.

But she warned if the situation continues then the situation may have to be reassessed, with the level of qualifications needed plus a shortage of nurses generally believed to be behind the problem.

“We are not quite sure why they applicants are so low so we are doing some work to find out,” said Louise.

“We are aware there are some national issues. You need to be a qualified nurse as well as a public health practitioner qualification, so you need some experience and then to do the training.

“Nationally, it is challenging to find nurses to recruit so this may be adding to the issue.”

The investigation is being carried out in partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE), which provides a school nursing course.

The shortage of staff has those who remain are finding they have increasing workloads.

Louise said: “When someone retires or leaves it does mean the remaining team are left with more to do but as it stands we are coping.

“Some of the development work we were planning has been put on hold but so far we have not had to review what we are doing.”

School nurses perform a variety of functions in both primary and secondary establishments. Fundamentally their aim is to promote public health.

“Broadly speaking, a nurse will cover a secondary school and then a number of primary schools,” she added.

“As well as injections, we look to educate the children, whether it is promoting healthy eating in primaries or teaching about sexual health in secondary schools.

“But we also provide a point of contact for some pupils who would not otherwise have sought medical advice.”

If anyone wants to find out more about what it takes to be school nurse then contact Louise on 01793 465324 or apply for one of the positions on the council website at www.swindon.gov.uk.