Weston School principal Deidre Senior said schools at times referred pupils to paediatricians because they were not able to send children under 12 years old to counsellors.
A medical condition could at times underlie issues in the classroom and no amount of counselling or behavioural modification would support a child without the right medical support for them, Mrs Senior said.
She was concerned after receiving an email from Health New Zealand — Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) at the end of last year informing the school that Oamaru pupils referred to a paediatrician could now face up to a 12-month wait to see one.
"There’s just not counsellors available and that’s why we need the paediatricians to support us."
The situation was just another example of how schools were becoming "stretched with how we can support a myriad of needs with our students".
Teachers and principals were already campaigning for more support in their classrooms because of the increasing complex needs they had with children, she said.
"Education is in crisis.
"Health is in crisis.
"And I guess this is a real, almost like a volcanic eruption where health and education come together to create a significant crisis, but it’s happening in our area."
Mrs Senior said once a child came to school and was in a more structured environment behaviours that could be of concern were more easily seen.
At times it was difficult for families to access the support available on their own.
Typically, schools through their access to professional support could help families connect with the assistance they needed.
Further, it was important for not just the referred child to be seen by a paediatrician — but all children in the classroom.
"When children with complex needs are supported, that means that they’re not a distraction in the classroom for other children to be able to learn."
She declined to provide the email to Allied Media.
Ministry of Education support for pupils includes occupational therapists, speech-language therapists and educational psychologists.
Schools can refer a pupil to a paediatrician if an educational psychologist deems it necessary.
North Otago is supported by paediatricians based at Dunedin Hospital.
Where possible, they provide paediatric appointments in North Otago monthly, while actively triaging and offering appointments to patients based on urgent clinical need.
Health New Zealand southern chief medical officer David Gow said they acknowledged behavioural problems could be complex and challenging for teachers, parents and children themselves.
The paediatric team at Dunedin Hospital was working hard to ensure patients "continue to receive" timely care, he said.
"We continue to triage paediatric patients based on clinical need and are focused on managing our waitlists for the service within expected timeframes."
They were down one senior medical officer at present and were actively recruiting to fill the empty position, he said.
Employing another person would bring them up to 5.8FTEs, which was how many they were budgeted to have.
"As always, we encourage families who may be on the waiting list to advise their GP if a child’s condition changes, and GPs will update our paediatric team."
He said anyone with immediate serious concerns regarding their child’s condition should visit their GP or urgent care/after-hours service or present to the emergency department.
