School safeguarding issue

[Obladeeobladaa]

Posting for a friend...

Child A with no medical needs was given prescription meds (penicillin) given to school for Child B in a totally different class. Child A alerted Parent A to situation, school had no idea of the error.

School keen to sweep under carpet. Where to go from here?

@mn2022

All I'm saying is I can see how it could have potentially happened if the initial parent was not explicitly clear when handing over the medication

How clear do you have to be?

"Please give this medicine to my child not a random child unknown to me"

It might not be a reportable issue to LADO but I'd expect the school to seek external advice and support as to the best way to proceed. LADOs May have dealt with a similar situation and be able to provide support. The LA will be involved if there are consequences to this mistake and the sooner they are kept in the loop the better.

I agree that it is a safety issue rather than safeguarding issue and HSE would definitely need to know of there was harm to the child. I'd expect the headteacher to phone both and check.

BUT it needs to be handled well. I'm sure the person who administered the drug had no intention of getting it wrong so the question is was it a mistake (negligence, misconduct, lack of adequate procedure or policy) or should they have not done it (lack of training, no trained staff available).

I don’t understand why a 4 or 5 year old would take someone else’s medicine though!? Mine wouldn’t!

If an adult said to most five year olds I know "Time for your medicine", a lot would just take it without questioning it.

get parent A to check medicine policy on school website