Principle and statement of intent
In accordance with principles of good practice, it is Bumbles Day Care’ policy that all medicines given to children in our care are only administered by either a member of staff who holds NVQ Level III in childcare or equivalent, or with appropriate supervision from either a Manager / Deputy Manager or Co-ordinator.
All prescribed medication must have written instructions and display the child’s name on the label.
We must have written consent of parent/carer to administer the medicines. At Bumbles Day Care we have 2 medication forms.
One off instance such as a prescribed course of antibiotics etc
Routine medication form for ongoing medicines – puffers, cream applications etc.
We will have 2 adults present when medication is administered.
We provide a Medication File containing details of the prescribed medication, date, time etc. and signed by both adults.
Procedures
Medicines include: antibiotics, antibiotic/steroid cream, calpol and other infant paracetamol preparations, inhalers for asthma and antihistamines.
If medicine is to be given to a child, then a parent must sign a medication form, on arrival to authorise the medication and again on collection to acknowledge that it has been given.
It is staff member’s responsibility to ensure that parents are reminded about the necessity of filling in this file.
It is the parents’ responsibility to allow sufficient time in the morning to complete the necessary paperwork.
Please do not leave medicines in bags, always hand over a medicine to a member of staff so that it can be stored safely. Each item of medication must be clearly labelled with the following information:
- Child’s name;
- Name of medication;
- Dosage;
- Frequency of administration;
- Date of dispensing;
- Storage requirements (if important); and
- Expiry date.
A staff member who has completed a medication record with a parent should ensure that instructions are passed to the staff working with the child as soon as possible.
Room Co-ordinators should check their file at 9am to make sure that they are aware of the medication needs of the children in their group for that particular day.
Before administering medicine to a child, the Medication File should be taken out and the dosage and instructions read out aloud in the presence of another staff member.
The child’s name must be clearly visible on the medication and checked.
The expiry date needs to be checked.
Staff should also be aware when the last dose of medicine was given and whether it is appropriate to administer another dose.
The member of staff who administered the medicine and the staff member, who witnessed the procedure, should then both sign the record.
All medication files must be returned to the kitchen as each group retire to the kitchen in the evening.
When collecting their child in the evening, the parent must acknowledge that they are aware of the medication given to their child that day, by signing the medication record.
There is a separate record for children who are on long term daily medication e.g. Inhalers or cream where parents have to sign consent once rather than every day.
Bumbles provide calpol, nurofen, piriton (in case of allergic reactions), waspeze (for insect stings) and arnica cream (for bruising). Permissions for use of these are covered by Parents’ general written permission obtained upon registration.
Calpol or nurofen would be administered for temperatures usually above 37.5 degrees (temperature taken under arm) providing we have permission from the parents. Consideration needs to be given as to when the child last received any Calpol, e.g. if not known, then you must wait 4 hours or 6 in the case of Nurofen before administering a dose. Staff should always inform the manager or deputy manager if a child is appearing unwell and requires medicine.
EPI-PENS – Used for severe allergic reactions.
These can only be administered by staff members who have received the appropriate training.
Accident forms
Incidents such as a child falling over or bumping themselves without leaving any mark or injury will always be recorded on an accident form and flagged up to a parent/carer.
All instances of children biting will also be recorded on an accident form and may be monitored to check for patterns or behaviour triggers.
All accidents that result in cuts bruises or bumps, no matter how slight will be recorded on an accident form and the parent/carer informed.
Only staff holding a current First Aid qualification should deal with any accidents to children in our care. Completed accident forms are collected daily in Bumbles 1 and weekly in Bumbles 2. They are reviewed by the Manager/Deputy Manager and if any additional safety measures are deemed necessary, then these are put in place as quickly as possible. The completed forms are then scanned and stored securely in each child’s personal file on Bumbles computer network. Any incident or accident that causes concerns will be flagged to the Manager immediately.