School forgot to give medication

[Popsicle82646]

Daughter comes home from school and says that they forgot to give her her dose of antibiotics today at school.

When dad collected the teacher said oh I'm sorry, and turned to my daughter and said 'Did you remind any of the staff today to give it to you?'

Now I'm a pretty chill mum, and whilst not the end of the world as she's had the second dose when she got home, It's kind of not the point.

AIBU for being annoyed they turned the blame to my child asking if she reminded them (7 yo)?!

I'm inclined to just leave it but part of me wonders if that had been a diabetes medication for example that had been forgotten it might have been different outcome.

WWYD?

I swear people on here are more and more just going with the tide with their comments. She shouldn't have tried to put the blame on your daughter and 4x a day of course your ideally want a dose to be given in school

But why are you trying to make this point if your child is not diabetic? Nor are you aware of any diabetes medication being missed on school premises.
Missing diabetes medication is dangerous, the grass is green and high tide happens twice a day. None of these things have any relationship to your child's antibiotics.

Asking child if they reminded someone is not blaming the child

It would be an IHCP - Individual Health Care Plan - but the rest of your post is correct.

I’m a TA who supported a little girl who was diabetic for 2.5 years…I never once forget to deal with her condition or give her medication as that was my job. She would die without it.

I have forgotten to give several children their Anti biotics because quite honestly I have a million other things that I’m doing at the same time. One time I forgot as I was knee deep cleaning up vomit and another time I forgot as I was dealing with a possible broken arm. You see most parents want us to give Antiobiotics at lunch when we are supposed to do this strange thing called actually eating our lunch. I’m the trained first aider so I have to deal with most incidents.

And not one parent of any child that I have forgotten to give medication to has ever complained or moaned in anyway. At 7 years old (which is Y2 age or year 3) I would expect them to gently remind me. And quite honestly if you were that concerned then why don’t you adjust the dosage timings so they have it before and after school or even better go in and do it yourself.

Thank you, Like I said I'm not angry or cross that they missed it, it was more the point of making sure it didn't happen again.

And yes 4 times a day antibiotics 4 hours apart needs a dose in school when they are there from 8.30 - 4pm in after school club.

Does your school have a policy? Most schools have one on administering medicines.

I would have a quick look of they followed thier own policy and where it fell down?

It might be they need a little training or update their policy, as going against the grain here, if they say they can do it, it's probably better if they do.

Eg my chikdrens school, the parent has to phone the office to remind them at the right time. I worked in a school that had a reminder app on the computer, which would ring. They also say antibiotics generally can be given before school, at pick up and bedtime so won't always need to be at school.

There should be a system in place that makes a new medication a simple addition to the school day. That there isn’t is ridiculous. That so many posters are saying the child doesn’t even need the medication or that the school has no responsibility is also ridiculous.

i know we are spoiled with our non-uk school, but we have a full time nurse for this task. It is one of the reasons we picked our school. It is a staff role that has been cut in so many places, but it is so important.

A child on antibiotics is not the same as a child with a medical condition that requires life saving regular medication. Children with diabetes, children with asthma etc have medical plans. Staff have training. Special locations are stated in ehcps on where the medication is kept. Meetings take place with parents. There will be a link member of staff for the child with diabetes and times allocated for bloods etc.

your child could and should be having antibiotics at home. Do that. Do not take time away from that imaginary child with diabetes that you are focused on.

Was the medication given to the office or the teacher. I used to have the job of administering medication and it was very stressful looking for multiple children at lunchtime. Have they given previous doses? I would say that whilst it is frustrating it isn't the end of the world.

Well, you’ve just explain the issue right there. It is nursing. Your school has a nurse.

FOUR times a day Every 4 hours.

So how exactly am I supposed to fit in the other 3 doses after 4pm when they get home from after school club? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Some schools have a notification system that tells the parent when meds have been given but as for remembering it that usually comes down to the office staff if you’re at an Infant site, KS2 kids will remember and come to the office..you might have an alarm on your phone or a giant
post it note on your computer screen… but shit happens and all that can go by the wayside if the proverbial hits the fan..insulin would not be forgotten has to have levels read before and after lunch. Schools are hard placed to work really, it’s no excuse but it’s the truth…not helped by
parents I’m afraid.

Also I looked after multiple diabetic children and this wouldn't have happened with them as they were checked multiple times a day. Same with ADHD meds as it was the same children every day. I never missed any but it would have been the adhoc antibiotics that would have been more likely to be forgotten. I also had other responsibilities.

Like some pps have said you really can't compare. A one-off medication for a child for perhaps a couple of days is very different to something more serious like diabetes. If that were the case there would be one or two trained members of staff who would be checking blood sugar levels at appropriate times and calculating lunch quantities and this would most probably be in the child's EHCP - they would have their photo in the office etc.
Some schools do not administer antibiotics or other non regular medication to children - the parent or designated proxy parent would go to the school to give the meds to the child.
Having said that, if the school agreed to give it to your child and you completed relevant paperwork etc then it should have happened. But I am not surprised if it was missed, schools don't stop for a moment during the day.

Thing is if your DD reminded them at the end of the day they'd forgotten they are right to wonder why when she realised she didn't say something?

It's not blaming the child. It's asking if she reminded someone? She's 7 - old enough to remember and they are checking if she did.

I wouldn't be mad.

I would remind them the next day if she needs them but I'd remind the person responsible for administering it.

To be fair schools only administer 4 times a day antibiotics not 3 which this is

rhat said you can’t extrapolate to something such as diabetes as that kind of thing is a constant and treated differently - it is easy to forget a dose of an ad hoc medicine

i wojld just chalk it up to one of those things

With a regular medication, there are different mechanisms in place to ensure it isn't 'forgotten'.

I would expect a 7 year old to know at what time of the school day they were supposed to have their antibiotics (i.e. before lunch, after lunch) and to know to let an adult know if they hadn't had them and I would expect their parent to have gone through that with them.

4 times a day is every 6 hours menaing you could have worked it without involving the school.
Also you could have phoned to check if it had been administered .
Please don't add extra burden on to schools unless absolutely necessary !!!

In my school, parents have to fill out a set of forms which need to be approved by the board of management before medication can be given out by staff. When parents are notified of this, most parents don't bother getting the forms and filling them. These parents don't like when the onus is put back on them to do some work. We never hear from them again.

You shouldn't be burdening an already stressed teacher with these requirements. Either go to the school to do it yourself, or keep your daughter at home if she is ill.

Popsicle82646, but it wasn't. Ifs and buts don't make a truth.

ItsGettingWeird

No she didn't remind them at the end of the day it was only when she was collected and dad asked to collect the antibiotics the teacher mentioned it.

It is FOUR times a day

Did you ask the doctor whether it was possible to stretch the doses out a bit because it would be difficult to manage with school? Usually they say it's fine.

It's not much of a point. Give her the medicine and forget about it.