Sickness And Medication

Sickness
To protect the children in my care from the spread of illnesses, I will not care for a child who has been sick or had diarrhoea in the last 48 hours. Any child with a temperature should be kept at home.
Children with an infectious illness should be kept away for the minimum period required for that illness.
If a child becomes ill while in my care, I will call the parents and expect them to be collected as soon as possible.
If I believe a child in my setting is suffering from a notifiable disease, identified as such in the Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1988, I will act on advice given by the Health Protection Agency and inform Ofsted of any action taken.
I will inform parents if I have any reason to believe that their child may have come into contact with an infectious disease.

Medication
To ensure the safety of the children, it is very important that medication is administered properly and that accurate records are kept.
It is the parent’s responsibility to keep me up to date with any relevant information about their child’s health.
Before I give medication to any child in my care, parents will be asked to complete and sign a medication form giving me permission to do so. This includes medical treatments (such as eye patches), over-the-counter medicines (like calpol) as well as prescribed medicines, creams, lotions or treatments. Parents will be asked to provide details on dosage, the times medication needs to administered, and any instructions necessary. I will not give medicines containing aspirin to children under 16 unless prescribed by a doctor.
I will require medicines provided in their original bottles/packets so that I have all the relevant information. I will only administer prescription medicine to the child they have been prescribed for. If necessary, I will ask for training to administer medication and will not give medication unless I feel confident to do so.
I will keep a written record of medication administered and when. I will ask parents to sign these records. If, for any reason, I am unable to administer the medication as expected I will tell the parents.
Medicines will be stored safely, out of the reach of children. Parents should let me know if there are any particular storage instructions for the medicines they leave with me (such as, if it needs to be kept in the fridge).
If a child has medication that they administer themselves at my setting (such as an asthma inhaler) then I will ask them to tell me so that it can be monitored. Full details of the medication and the child’s requirements for it will be recorded and the parent will sign to give consent for the child to self-medicate.