Health Minister Simon Corbell said consultation with specialist school communities revealed parents "drew comfort" from a nursing presence, but noted numerous attempts to fill full-time school nurse vacancies had failed.

The decision has frustrated Woden School parent John Hillier, who said the government was continuing to discriminate against the only southside secondary special school.

"Woden School is not a regular high school – it's either discrimination or there is now a third category of school that no one has heard of," he said.

A permanent nurse was needed for his son, who suffers acute issues relating to his diabetes, despite the "great job" the school was doing and excellent care by trained learning support assistants under the model brought in last year, he said.

"The place is a special school and needs a nurse on staff – there are various and sundry things he can't attend because he doesn't have a nurse," he said.

The full-time on-site nurse was removed from Woden School last year as part of a broader trial to offer centralised nurse advice via a telephone hotline under the Healthcare Access at School scheme. The nurse now visits the school each day to provide Mr Hillier's son with his insulin shots.

The government's response to the review of the HAAS implementation in specialist schools includes recommendations for schools to raise the number of designated first aid officers from two to four. Learning support assistants would continue to care for students with chronic and complex healthcare needs after training from registered nurses.

The review, tabled in the Legislative Assembly in August, included comment from the support assistants that HAAS had improved access to off-site school excursions for students, as registered nurses had not been able to leave the school during the day. Mr Hillier said his son was unable to go to school swimming events or formals without timely injections, which only a nurse was able to give.

The two nurses at the north Canberra specialist secondary school, Black Mountain, were reinstated in April after widespread anger earlier this year that their removal would leave teaching staff to perform complex medical procedures.

A spokesman for Mr Corbell confirmed the full-time on-site nurses at three specialist schools would remain, but there would be no Woden School change.

Shadow education minister Steve Doszpot said he was disappointed by the "dangerous precedent" the review decision reached, and called on the government "to see logic".

"What's the presumption that these children need [an on-site nurse] in primary school and don't need it in secondary school?"

Mr Hillier said he would "be amazed" if his son was the only one at his school who used the nurse, but the lack of a full-time option would push parents to enrol their children in Black Mountain. He was the only parent at Woden School meetings on the nursing issue in July and September.

Mr Corbell said privacy restrictions meant he could not indicate if others used the nurse, but there were 28 students across 11 ACT public schools, including two specialist schools, on the HAAS program.

The ACT opposition has pledged $500,000 if elected to ensure all four of Canberra's special schools have a full-time nurse.