OFSTED don't you just love them?

[Saltire]

Or not in my case.
Got my inspection report through and am baffled to say the least. i got it today - 11th July. it has actions on it that have to be done by 08-06-2012
That was last month.
It says that I have a notice to improve, and that
"ensure written parental permission is requested for the seeking of any medical advice or treatment for all children"

I have it written into the contracts (Morton Michel) and showed the inspector this. So do I need to write out another bloody form and have it twice?

Also goes on in the actual report about how I can improve on making children more aware of the environment"

This from an organisation that prides itself on making childminders use whole trees worth of paper for various forms, reports,planning etc.

Was that the date of your inspection? Having parental permission for medical treatment is part of the legal requirements of the EYFS so if you didn't have a permission form that satisfied the inspector then you wouldn't be compliant with the legalities and you should have got the parent to sign one that evening. (I know all this because I didn't have one for emergency medical treatment and had to get it before sundown that day!)

'phone them up and question the action re. permission.
I use MM contracts and the permission is definitely in there and valid as long as the parents have signed.
Don't let them say you need a different form. You don't. MM contracts are well checked by people who are trained in law.
Good luck, don't let them keep the action.

They put my area wrong in the inspection. First the inspector called me from another postcode saying she was lost but she had my correct address so what the hell she was doing over there I don't know. Than she managed to find her way to my house but on her report she put the name of the area where she had been lost.

When i showed the contracts to the inspector she said "oh that's good it has permission for medical advice/treatment on it". The contract is signed by the parents, we did contracts way back in january, then reviewed them in June.

The inspection was in May. It clearly says the action has to be done by the 8th June

Maybe she means with the medical permission that you need a form every time there is a new medication. Ie Annie smith - Calpol - 5mls etc. The forms where you sign when you have given a dose and then the parent signs when they come back.

Off subject here but I'm stopping using a trees worth of paper and am now doing planning, cleaning ch arts, risk assessments ect on the computer in labelled folders . I am happy to show care commission these at nxt they are out and explain y

It doesn't mention individual doses. it says

" ensure written parental permission is requested ofr the seeking of any necessary medical advice or treatment for all children (safguarding and promoting children's welfare"

Should be fine mrsthomsontobe
I do all our paperwork online: registers, observations, diaries, the lot and OFSTED were fine with it. You are supposed to be registered under the data protection act, though.

Saltire, if you think they've been unfair, and it sounds like they have, I think you should appeal. The last OFSTED training I went on, they said it's worth doing this and encouraged us to complain if there was a problem. Yeah, I thought I must have heard wrong, too!

From the new EYFS (Sep 2012) (my emphasis):
"3.44 Medicine (both prescription and non-prescription) must only be administered to a child where written permission for that particular medicine has been obtained from the child?s parent and/or carer."

From the current EYFS (not as clearly worded IMHO but it amounts to the same thing):
Providers must obtain prior written permission for each and every medicine from parents before any medication is given.

I assume your contract does not mention particular medicines - that is because it is not there to satisfy Ofsted that you are complying with the EYFS, it is there to protect you (i.e. protect the insurer) from parents suing you.

Plenty of easy templates on the web e.g. Bromley CMA.

I would love to do everything on the pc did you buy a certain package??

All those who keep their records on the computer, are you registered under the Data Protection Act? I've only just found out we have to do this and it's sending me back to paper records!

You register under the Information Commissioners Office and pay about £30 per year and its a really simple process. Far more paperwork involved if you don't rather than do. If you take photos and print them via your computer you need to be registered anyway so you might as well do it and be covered for everything. I do 90% of my work on a computerbased system and love it. So much less time at evenings and weekends on monotonous paperwork - I can spend the time planning great activities and researching them instead - not to mention just having more time for my family and the children I mind.

Mr A - this is not an action about administering medication (that's a whole separate permission), it's about the current EYFS legal requirement (the Revised 2012 EYFS has no legal standing until 01.09.12) to have parental permission to seek 'any necessary emergency medical advice or treatment' (EYFS 2008 pg 23 'Information & complaints - specific legal requirements'). Saltire, I'm not familiar with the MM contracts or their wording so I don't know if they fulfill the legal requirement but from what you say it sounds like you have a case for challenging Ofsted on this action, especially if the inspector accepted the MM contract at the time and didn't alert you to the action (which should have been agreed at the inspection). Best of luck

That's interesting ChildrenAtHeart, because the word "emergency" was not in the bit the OP quoted, and because the contract does appear to include this blanket provision I assumed it must be the administering of medication permissions that were being referred to.

Saltire if you have administering of medication covered separately and so this is referring to the blanket in loco parentis permission for emergency treatment that is in your contracts you should contact Ofsted immediately as their report is clearly wrong.

Good point Mr A I hadn't spotted that, although from the wording Saltire gives I still think that's what the Inspector was referring to, as the wording re administering meds is quite different. It's confusing isn't it? Saltire I definitely think you need to challenge this