Using texts to increase access to school nurses.

Although young people find school nurses approachable and caring, too few access their services. A text messaging service was set up in two secondary schools to raise awareness of the school nurse and encourage teenagers to make contact for health advice and support. Pupils were involved in developing promotional materials. The majority of text contact was for sexual health and relationship issues, with 44 out of the 202 text messages leading to face-to-face contact with the nurse.