Parents in South Wales have criticised a new health guide handed out in schools which says that children shouldn’t take any time away from school for illness.
The guide offers advice on how long to keep children home for a range of illnesses, recommending 24 hours for scarlet fever and 4-6 days for chicken pox, rubella, measles, mumps and whooping cough.
The guide also suggests zero days off be taken for several illnesses, including tonsillitis, glandular fever, conjunctivitis and hand, foot and mouth disease.
The guide was published by the Central South Consortium, a joint partnership between Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend and Merthyr county councils.
Parents issued with the booklet have rubbished the advice, saying it should be up to the parent to decide when their child is well enough to return to school.
One parent scoffed at the advice. “My daughter had hand foot and mouth. She couldn’t eat for five days due to the ulcers in her mouth.”
“If she talked she would dribble as it was too painful to swallow her saliva, so there was no way she could have gone to school. Who makes up this rubbish?”
A dad from Cardiff said he thought it was a joke. “I think as parents we are responsible enough to know when and for how long we should keep our children away from school.”
Another parent added: “There are no hard and fast rules when a child falls ill, but each child is different and you get worse cases of mumps or chicken pox.”
“I don’t know who writes this rubbish, have they got children themselves?”
Pauline Jarman, a governor at both Caegarw Primary and Mountain Ash Comprehensive School in Rhondda Cynon Taff gave her opinion on the new guide.
“I am inclined to trust the judgement of the parent or guardian. If they think the child’s illness is severe enough to keep them home – or are eager to avoid spreading the illness to other children – they will seek the appropriate advice from their GP,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Central South Consortium stated that “the medical advice printed has been obtained directly from the Health Protection Agency in England in conjunction with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.” They added that the content of the booklet was approved several health boards.
