The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) opened a consultation on October 19 on allowing schools to buy and hold spare adrenaline nasal sprays for pupils at risk of anaphylaxis. The UK-wide proposal would widen an existing exemption for emergency auto-injectors. It is a proposed change to medicines regulations, with responses due by December 14, rather than a permission already in force.

Schools could choose injectors, nasal sprays or both. Administration would remain restricted to trained school personnel and pupils known to be at risk. The proposal would allow the school-held product to differ from the pupil’s prescribed device. School supplies would remain a backup, with implementation guidance to be updated if the change proceeds. Parents, school staff and health professionals can respond. The consultation does not set an implementation date for schools to start buying spare sprays.

The regulatory history began earlier. On July 18, 2025, the MHRA authorised a nasal formulation of adrenaline for emergency treatment of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction. That decision introduced a needle-free alternative to the injection-based products already available. The agency said auto-injectors remained an important emergency treatment. Its announcement also committed to continued monitoring of the new medicine’s safety and effectiveness, a reminder that approval does not end regulatory oversight.

A separate authorisation on June 12, 2026 extended the nasal option to younger children through a lower-strength product. The MHRA described this as an additional treatment choice for children who previously relied on injectable adrenaline. It again said it would keep safety and effectiveness under review and directed readers to official product information. These were medicine-authorisation decisions, each with its own date and scope.

Medicine approval and school permission

England’s school allergy-safety guidance, published on July 6, already distinguishes a pupil’s prescribed nasal medicine from a school’s spare stock. It says nasal devices may be prescribed to individuals, while the existing exemption for school-purchased spare devices covers auto-injectors. That distinction explains why authorising a treatment and allowing a school to buy an unassigned emergency supply are separate regulatory questions.

The education guidance also separates legal duties from recommended practice. Maintained schools other than maintained nursery schools, academies other than 16-to-19 academies, and pupil referral units must have allergy-safety policies and take the statutory guidance into account. The document says departures should have a clear, justifiable reason. Its coverage is not identical across every educational setting: equivalent requirements for independent and non-maintained special schools are described as a future regulatory step.

The guidance expects schools to keep spare devices and arrange allergy-awareness training. It describes separate statutory duties on stocking and training as planned through forthcoming regulations. Those statements should therefore be read with their stated legal status, rather than combined into a claim that every UK institution faces the same requirement.

The systems behind spare supplies

The Department of Health’s September 2017 operational guidance for England shows the practical system behind school-held emergency injectors. It calls for a school policy covering responsibility for buying supplies, recording eligible pupils and obtaining parental consent. It also addresses staff support, storage and the handling of emergencies. These arrangements are about maintaining a school service, rather than purchasing a device and putting it on a shelf.

For stock management, that guidance recommends a record of device batch numbers and expiry dates, monthly checks and arrangements for replacements. It says spare equipment should be distinguished from medicines prescribed to individual pupils. Named staff should take responsibility for keeping the equipment and records in order. The document also recommends documenting each use and informing parents when the school’s emergency supply has been administered.

Training is another operational task in the older guidance. Staff need to understand the school’s policy, recognise when emergency help is needed and know where equipment is kept. The document treats access, record-keeping and staff preparation as connected responsibilities. It is historical guidance on injectors, not instructions for introducing nasal sprays before a legal change.

Dalimss News has also reported on WHO and INTERPOL’s health-security agreement and the EU’s response to the UN pandemic declaration, covering other current questions of public-health governance.