Inclusion nursing

The Inclusion Nursing team is part of the Leeds Children’s Community Nursing service and provides specialist nursing support for children and young people with additional needs to access learning and education safely across Leeds.

Our service supports children and young people with health and nursing needs, promoting their health, wellbeing and inclusion within education settings. This includes children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and complex health needs. Our aim is to enable pupils who require nursing support to attend and participate in education as fully and safely as possible.

A key part of our role is to work in partnership with children and young people, their families, education staff and the wider multidisciplinary team. We provide support, advice, training and nursing care to help build confidence, promote independence and support inclusion within the school environment

Who’s it for

The inclusion nursing service supports children and young people aged 2 to 19 years who attend:

• specialist inclusive learning centres
• partnerships
• resource provisions

The service supports pupils with a wide range of additional needs, including:

• Moderate learning difficulties
• Complex and multiple learning needs
• Autism
• Physical and medical needs
• speech and language difficulties
• Visual, hearing or sensory impairments

What we offer

We provide specialist nursing support within education settings, including:

• Supporting children and young people to participate in all aspects of school life
• Assessing health needs and developing individual healthcare plans
• Assessing continence needs and developing action plans to promote continence
• Providing nursing care for children who require support during the school day
• Offering support, advice and information on health needs to children, young people, parents, carers, education staff and other professionals
• Providing training, guidance and mentorship to education staff, parents, carers, the voluntary sector and students
• Working in partnership with other agencies to support families, including where children may be in need of protection
• Promoting healthy lifestyles within both the school and home environment

How we work

We work collaboratively with education settings, families and other professionals to ensure that children and young people can attend school safely, confidently and inclusively.

A key part of our role is to liaise closely with parents and carers, acting as a link between home, school and health services. We work in partnership with families to share information, agree care arrangements and support consistency between care provided at home and within the educational setting.

Our service focuses on assessment, advice, training and support, enabling education staff and families to understand and meet a child or young person’s health needs within the school environment. We aim to build confidence and skills, promoting independence wherever possible, while ensuring appropriate nursing oversight remains in place.

Children and young people with identified nursing needs receive an annual assessment, during which individual healthcare plans are reviewed and updated. Some assessments may be completed electronically using an e‑questionnaire sent by SMS. Care plans may also be reviewed at other times if a child or young person’s health needs change.

The inclusion nursing service is a non‑emergency service and does not replace the role of education staff in delivering day‑to‑day care. Our role is to provide specialist nursing assessment, advice, training and oversight to support safe school attendance.

To support safe care delivery in school, we ask parents and carers to ensure that any medication or feeds provided are clearly labelled, within expiry dates and supplied as required.

Referral information

We accept referrals from education settings only. Referrals must be made by the child or young person’s school or educational provision We are unable to accept parent or carer referrals.