6yr old child given medication without parental consent

[Skippy21]

After collecting my two children 11yrs and 6yrs old from a half term holiday workshop they both were happy and excited about their outdoor fun that day despite small injuries- 6yr old had a tumble and hurt his ankle. No real issues there until my 11yr old daughter said the man looking after them gave Jack (6 yr old) ‘a tablet’ 😮😮, as he had hurt his ankle and was in considerable pain crying a lot. I was utterly beside myself with shock that this would happen- Jack was given an Ibuprofen tablet -adult!! Medication- no phone call to me and no authority to administer any form of medication. Jack is ok, and dosage was within his weight range- just. The man has been suspended from his position ( guy in charge had no idea this incident had occurred!!).
Should this be reported to police?

Shouldn’t have given him a tablet, but should’ve called you to pick him up but come on police? As obviously they have nothing better to do!!!!!

Yeah but @Morred that is what you have been trained to do. Not all training is the same - so much depends upon your job and background. Giving details of the training that you received is of little relevance here.

Skippy - so did you refuse to sign a first aid form or did the holiday club not provide one?

Police no, ofsted yes? If it’s run by the local authority and not private potentially the council.

If it had been one paracetamol it would have been an overdose!

But it wasn't a paracetamol so what a bizarre thing to say. I really can't get my head round anyone even thinking this should be reported to the police. He did something wrong (assuming you havent misread the small print)and action is being taken. Surely that's the end of it.

Permission to provide emergency first aid is not a blanket permission for providers to administer any old over the counter medication they fancy Especially without any record keeping.

YABVU OP, give your head a wobble! They had your child's best interests at heart and looked after him when he had a fall.

Adult gives child in pain a painkiller suitable for his weight and you want to go to the police? I'm not sure what more you want to happen. Unless he's deadly allergic I assume no harm done.

It doesn't seem there was a crime here. A big fecking massive mistake that may even reach the level of gross misconduct, but not a crime.

I think if the company are dealing with it then that is good.

YABU

Calling the police seems like a waste of police time. Also what would you say? Your son was crying in pain so was given the right dose of an anti inflammatory after a man had checked with your older daughter that it was okay?

Would you tell the police that you have gotten him fired but want more done, and then when they ask how your son was after being given the unauthorised medication and you have to say better after the anti inflammatory?

I get that she is 11, but if this man was a regular guy who doesn't have children or masses of experience, he may have assumed your daughter although 11 would have answered honestly about whether your younger child was allowed an Ibuprofen.

(You say in your reply that he said he checked with her before giving the medication).

People are being really dumb about the allergy thing. The whole point is the adult didn't know the kid wasn't allergic. It could have been fatal. Do people actually want someone making decisions that could be fatal to a child, looking after chidlren?

Police isn’t an appropriate course of action.

He has acted wrongly in giving the medication, and should as a minimum be retrained not to do so again. As someone who runs a holiday club myself, I’d sack him but I’d know that he’d had training which expressly told him not to do first aid - as we have specific qualified members - and would also cover appropriate first aid, medications etc. We don’t know if this holiday club have trained him well or not. It does seem like the holiday club are now acting appropriately re suspending him, and I can imagine will be making sure this never happens again.

You could report to ofsted if you must report somewhere. If they take reception age children they need to at least have notified ofsted they’re running (if for less than 14 days in a year) or have proper registration.

Police is a ridiculous suggestion though.

I dont understand the people downplaying this - it was a massive safeguarding failure on his part (and a worrying one) and one which at the moment was handled perfectly adequately. OP complained to the company and he was suspended. Nothing in that reaction was wrong.

But that all I think I would want given the stretched nature of Police resources and the fact that he is ok. But the OP has every right to be angry and upset at what the man did

and Ofsted is a good call

You have a completely valid point, why are you trying to make a ridiculous, exaggerated, invalid point?

Of course the guy should not have administered medication without parental consent and without checking for allergies with a parent, but the center have reacted appropriately. They have suspended him and presumably are investigating how this happened so it won't happen again.

None of this is a matter for the police though.

If it had been one paracetamol it would have been an overdose!
I very much doubt it. Paracetamol overdoses have to exceed the maximum dose for 24 hours. A maximum paracetamol dose for a 5yo in 24 hours is 1000mg (and it is the same for 4yo to 8yo). Adult tablets can be 250mg, often they are 500mg and rarely1000mg, but in none of these cases would he have overdosed.

Safeguarding wise if they're Ofsted registered (and if it's through a school I'm sure they would be) they'd have to report it themselves to Ofsted and also LADO. You should probably google LADO.

I would also check any paperwork you have, and then have a meeting with the holiday club senior staff just to find out if they've followed the correct procedures.

The fact that nobody was informed is very sketchy to say the least.

Why do you keep naming your child? Jack this and Jack that?

Nobody does that.

quartz I agree - massive safeguarding fail. I don't have any safeguarding training at all and I'm perfectly well aware that you do NOT give medication without parental consent.

Ofsted also a good suggestion.

I don't think it should be reported to the police but he certainly should not have given it. It's not just a case of the dosage being correct but there are numerous reasons why ibuprofen should not be given, not just allergies. Asthmatics should avoid it, if possible (although as an asthmatic I balance the slight risk of my very controlled asthma against the pain/anti inflammatory properties. But also the child might be on other medication that means it should not have been given.

I used to run holiday clubs and I would give children medication but only with specific signed permission and the medication given to me by the parent. I made sure that it was witnessed by another member of staff.

He's been suspended.

What do you think the police would/could do?

You would have preferred your 6 year old to be left in pain?

As you said if it had been paracetamol then ...but it wasn't paracetemol, or cocaine or any other drug. It was the correct dosage of the correct drug for a toddler in pain.

Basic first aid is fine. There is training and regulation around first aid, particularly when children are in a care or club setting.
Giving medication to a child without permission is not appropriate. What if the child had an allergic reaction to it? What if the child had a condition or was on other medication that meant that ibuprofen was contraindicated?
I am a trained nurse, but I would not give medication to a child without the parent's permission.
The correct first aid is to immobilise and elevate the limb, apply an ice pack. Then contact the parent.
What worries me about this particular person is that they clearly don't have first aid training and therefore might inadvertently do something more dangerous the next time a child has an injury.

Ibuprofen isn't well tolerated in some, like my youngest. She gets horrific nosebleeds and it's on her medical notes not to prescribe it to her. My Dad had a horrendous gastric bleed from it.

I find it quite shocking that someone would choose to medicate a child without checking with the parents first. I've run a playgroup and would never have given a child medication - you never know what someone is allergic to.

Ibuprofen has aspirin, if it been given that as a child (or even as an adult) it could have had serious consequences

No it doesn't. Ibuprofen contains...ibuprofen.

The police no, but what regulation authority are they under? Is is an Ofsted registered setting?