Medication
Please note that further information can be found in our 'Medical Conditions Policy', located in the policy section of the website. Some information taken from the policy has been shared below for ease of access for parents.
The administration of medicines is not a statutory duty and as such a member of staff may volunteer to fulfil this role but cannot be directed. If a member of staff feels they are not able to take on the responsibility, this task will pass to another volunteer competent member of staff. If in the event that no member of staff feels willing to administer medication, the headteacher will do so. In the absence of the headteacher, the parent is required to come in to school, to give the medication at the appointed time.
Short Term Medication
We will only accept prescribed medicines*.
Normally, if a child needs to take prescribed medication in school time, we request that the parent comes to school to administer the medicine (preferably at lunchtime). If for some reason this is not feasible, office staff will ensure that the correct administrative procedure is followed.
School will only administer medication prescribed to be taken four times a day. Medication prescribed for three times a day can be administered at home outside school hours.
All medicines are kept in medicine cabinets. Medicines required to be in the fridge are locked in boxes in the medical fridge. Emergency medicines are stored by special arrangement with the headteacher.
Staff will only administer medicines which have been prescribed for that child by a doctor*. Parents must sign a form to indicate they give permission for school to administer medicines, dosage and instructions.
Medicines must be brought to the office and not given to the child to take to class.
*Non-prescription medicines - Paracetamol
In recognition that, in the short term, a dose of ‘over the counter’ paracetamol may increase the chances of school attendance if a child is mildly unwell, and that to see a doctor for such a prescription can be time consuming, school is willing to administer one dose of paracetamol, eg. Calpol or similar paracetamol suspensions, between the times of 1.00pm and 1.15pm only. This way, it is manageable for the school, and parents and school can be assured of a four-hour time span between any previous dosage. School will only enter into this agreement with a parent on a short-term basis.
The medicine will be administered by the office staff or the headteacher only. No flexibility is available on dosage, we will adhere to the instructions printed on the box/bottle. If parents wish other arrangements, this should be administered at home or on the advice of a GP through prescription.
Parents must bring in this medicine as per the arrangements for any other medicine.
Ibruprofen or asprin will not be administered under this arrangement.
Staff will not accept responsibility for the safe keeping or administering of any non-prescribed medicine including proprietary brands (eg. Throat pastilles, over the counter Calpol etc.). Children may not bring these in to school to self-administer.
Inhalers and Emergency Medicines
Parents of children with Asthma must complete a school Asthma card and parents of children with Epilepsy will complete a Medical Care Plan.
All Inhalers/Epi pens must have the doctor’s prescription label with the child’s name and dosage instructions on. School will not accept inhalers/Epi-pens without this prescription label or a label in another person’s name.
The only medication allowed to be kept in the classroom are inhalers for asthma or EpiPens/Epilepsy medication. Inhalers, marked with the child’s name, are kept in a clearly and obviously labelled medicine box and be readily accessible to the child at all times. Children must always have their inhalers with them/easily available when working in hall, ICT suite, in PE or when outside. Inhalers are kept over lunch time in the lunch hall (KS1 and KS2) so anyone can quickly and easily locate them. The midday supervisor returns each set to the appropriate class at the end of lunchtime.
Inhalers will not move with children from the classroom to OOSC daily but remain in their clearly labelled class box. Where parents are able to supply additional inhalers to be held in the OOSC they are to be encouraged to do so.
All correspondence, including parental notification and the completion of relevant forms including any amendments should all go through the school office who will inform the OOSC.
Children with long term/daily medical needs
If a child needs to take medication every day or very regularly, or if they have a serious medical need, they are placed on the SEND register under the ‘Medical’ category.
In this case, each child has an individual care plan (known as a Medical Care Plan) which details the condition, prevention if possible, treatment and guidelines for staff. The fulfilment of the care plan is the responsibility of the classteacher under the direction of the SENCo and headteacher. If a temporary medicine is brought into school for a child on a medical care plan, it will be administered as above.
Parents are responsible for ensuring school is kept up to date with any changes to their child’s medical condition – all communications MUST go through the school office.