Regulations concerning management of medicines

According to the guidance set out in the Statutory Framework ‘medicines must not usually be administered unless they have been prescribed for that child by a doctor, dentist, nurse or pharmacist.’ No medicines should normally be given to children. If a child is ill enough to need a course of medicine, he/she should normally be at home. There may however, be circumstances where a child is well enough to return to the nursery but the course of antibiotics is not completed. Only prescribed medication may be administered by staff and written authorisation must be given by the parent/carer on a Medicines Form, which authorises staff to administer stated medicines. However as we seek to work in partnership with parents for the wellbeing of the child, we have decided to start administering calpol that the nursery would provide. This is primarily to stop the child’s condition worsening as we wait for the parent to collect the child. A call will be made to the parent before the calpol is given and you will be asked to collect your child within the hour of the call. A medication form will be filled by the Nursery and the parent will be asked to sign on collection of the child.

Prior to this a calpol consent form will need to be signed and placed in the child’s file. Teething gel is the only other unprescribed medication we would give to your child. However we must get written permission beforehand from parents and same procedures as those for prescribed medication applies parents would need to fill in the medication form. The people authorised to give medication at the nursery are: The Manager, Deputy Manager, Senior staff and Level 3 qualified staff can in the presence of the Manger/Deputy or Senior Officer. Written authorisation must be given by the parent/carer on a Medicine Form, which authorises staff to administer stated medicines stating the dose and how often it is to be given. A written record will be kept of all medication administered. This will be signed by the parent on each occasion after the medication has been administered A written record will be kept of all medication administered. Injections can only be undertaken by a qualified nurse or medical practitioner. The nursery will endeavour to follow the parents/carers instructions, but reserve the right to refuse a request to administer medicines whilst a child is in our care.

Injections/EpiPens can only be undertaken by a qualified nurse or medical practitioner. The nursery will follow the parents/carers instructions, but may seek parents help in finding suitable trainers to train staff Please inform us as soon as possible if your child will be absent for a period of time due to illness. Local Authority regulations state that parents/carers are required to give the following information to the Manager: name, address and date of birth of each child; name, home address and place of work with respective telephone numbers of the parents/carers of each child (we ask that a copy of the parent/carers current timetable should be left with the Manager to ensure that contact can be made in an emergency); name, address and telephone number of each child’s doctor and the state of immunisation and infectious diseases suffered by each child. From time to time these information would be updated and parents would be requested to supply us with these information. These guidelines have been prepared for the guidance of both parents and staff . Staff are expected to observe the above guidelines and failure to do so would lead to disciplinary action.