Five schoolchildren have fallen ill and two have been taken to hospital after a “concerning situation” at a school hostel which led to a warning about ingesting an “unknown substance”.
The five young people became ill on Wednesday at the Papdale Halls of Residence, a hostel for students from the North and South Isles who attend Kirkwall Grammar School.
Police investigating the circumstances have said that the conditions of the young people are “not causing concern at this time”.
NHS Orkney and Orkney Islands Council are helping police with their investigation and have issued a warning to parents and carers, urging them to ask their children about “a clear capsule that may contain a brown or other coloured liquid”.
In a Facebook post, Orkney Islands Council wrote: “We are asking for parental support to assist in dealing with this situation and want to stress that this is not about punishment, this is about the health and wellbeing of our young people at this time.
“We are appealing for parents and carers to ask their children if they have in their possession an unknown substance, in particular a clear capsule that may contain a brown or other coloured liquid.
“It is important that anyone with such a capsule, hands it over to their parents, the school, an appropriate adult or the police and not to ingest it.
“It’s vital that we all work together to ensure our young people are made aware of the potential dangers of taking substances that they are not familiar with.
“We will be working with the Police, NHS Orkney and the Orkney Drugs Dog charity to further educate and engage with students throughout Orkney schools about the dangers of substance misuse.
“We would really appreciate any assistance parents and carers can provide.
“Our grateful thanks are extended to the staff at the Papdale Halls of Residence who dealt with the incident swiftly and professionally ensuring the young people concerned received the medical attention and support required.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police Scotland officers are liaising with NHS Orkney and Orkney Islands Council after five pupils took unwell at the Papdale Halls of Residence in Kirkwall yesterday, Wednesday, 26 January 2022.
“Two young people remain in hospital however medical staff have said their conditions are not causing concern at this time.
“A joint investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and enquiries are ongoing.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here