YSGOL HEOL GOFFA: Four pupils have died in six months, says councillor, and still no nurse
Four pupils at a Llanelli special school have died in the last six months, according to the town councillor campaigning for a full-time nurse on site.
Cllr Shaun Greaney says three of the children were pupils in the school’s Medical Services Unit, and another pupil died of a notifiable disease. He has not named the children or described their circumstances, out of respect for their families.
Campaigners have been calling for a registered nurse at Ysgol Heol Goffa for more than five years. Their pleas have gone to Hywel Dda University Health Board and the county council.
Cllr Greaney, the Labour town councillor who has led the town council’s push for a nurse, said: “The time taken to hold any kind of meaningful talks with frightened and worried parents, campaigners, and the school itself borders on criminal in my opinion.”
He went further: “The kindest comment I’ve heard about it is that it’s disheartening. But in fact it’s horrifying, disgusting, shameful.”
Hywel Dda gave no guarantee and no deadline at MP’s meeting, campaigners say
The action group recently met health board chiefs online, at a meeting convened by Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith. Cllr Greaney said the chiefs “could not give a guarantee a nurse would be employed, nor could they give a deadline for a decision”.
According to Cllr Greaney, Dame Nia told the meeting the case for a nurse at the school was all the stronger because Prince Philip Hospital has no paediatric department.
He said it was “encouraging that they finally listened to the overwhelming evidence presented to them”, with chiefs pledging “something would be done”. Apart from the health board seeking information about the children with epilepsy, though, he understands “not a lot has happened”.
Health chiefs also insisted no solution could be reached without the involvement of Carmarthenshire County Council, he said.
Ysgol Heol Goffa mum says the health board is “failing in its duty of care”
Llanelli mum Lana Dakin’s son Jac, eight, has Schinzel-Giedion syndrome, a rare genetic condition, and complex medical needs. She said the staff at Ysgol Heol Goffa “are great but they should not have to carry this alone”.
She said: “The children here have some of the most complex medical needs in our community. I am shocked, appalled, disgusted that the health board is not doing enough. The health board is failing in its duty of care.”
Lana Dakin with her son Jac, eight, a pupil at Ysgol Heol Goffa. (Image: Lana Dakin)Speaking about her son, she said: “Jac is not just a diagnosis. He is my son. He is loved.”
She said he deserved “the very best chance to learn, grow, thrive” and to “have the best quality of life”. “And so does every child at Ysgol Heol Goffa,” she added.
Her message to the health board was blunt: “Children like Jac should not have to wait. They deserve support now.”
Promised Welsh Government guidance still has no timescale
As far back as February, parents warned they had “been lucky to date that a child has not died”, as calls grew for a watchdog investigation.
Hywel Dda has previously pointed to its visiting community children’s nursing service. In August, Cabinet Minister for Health and Care Mabon ap Gwynfor said staff at the school were “assessed as competent”, and that a nurse was “a matter for the relevant local authority and health board“.
New guidance from the Welsh Government has been promised for some time in 2027. Last month, Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language Anna Brychan said the work was “at an early stage” and gave no timescale.
Cllr Greaney said: “As we’ve stressed all along, time is of the essence. If they wait until the Welsh Government produces new guidance in 2027, it could come too late to save a child’s life.”
Carmarthenshire Council and Hywel Dda could share the cost, councillor says
He saved his sharpest words for the county council: “It’s as if the Plaid Cymru-led county council has a death wish. We are not talking a huge sum of money.”
Split between the health board and the county council, he said, the bill would be “roughly about a figure akin to a council cabinet member’s salary with the potential of keeping children safe and alive”. He asked: “Who could begrudge the parents that peace of mind and have a clear conscience?”
Council rejects ‘modest cost’ claim and says school nursing is Hywel Dda’s job
Carmarthenshire County Council said it “does not accept the suggestion that it has refused to engage in finding a solution” for the school.
Cllr Glynog Davies, the council’s cabinet member for education, said it had “repeatedly raised concerns about nursing provision” with the health board, the Welsh Government, the school and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. He pointed to Welsh Government guidance that every special school should have access to at least one dedicated registered nurse employed by the health board.
Responsibility for commissioning and delivering school nursing in Carmarthenshire “rests with Hywel Dda University Health Board”, he said, adding that it was “misleading to characterise the issue simply as the Council refusing to share a ‘modest cost'”.
Any future model had to settle “clinical responsibility, governance, staffing and funding” between the organisations responsible, he said, and the council wanted those talks “brought to a clear and sustainable conclusion”.
He said the council would not comment on individual pupils, and that no “causal connection” should be drawn between any deaths and nursing provision “without clear clinical evidence”. There is “not currently a confirmed timescale for a final decision by the Health Board”, he added.
Hywel Dda says its community nursing team and staff training already cover the school
Hywel Dda said it supports the children at Ysgol Heol Goffa “with a specialist/community children nursing service to meet their universal health needs”, and by training the school’s staff.
Sharon Daniel, the health board’s director of nursing, quality and patient experience, said the health and wellbeing of children “is a priority for us” and that specialist support ensured each child with healthcare needs “can be cared for competently and confidently within the school environment”.
She said: “Through continued partnership working and a shared commitment to improvement, we will support ongoing actions to strengthen provision and ensure the best possible outcomes for the pupils and staff at Ysgol Heol Goffa.”
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