Urgent giving medicines-what is the official line for childminders?

[MilaMae]

Ofsted due any day.

Doing my administering medicines procedure. Is it still only prescribed medicines that is ok to give?

Am I supposed to have written consent for prescribed?

don't know about childminders, but for my nursery, medicine has to be prescribed and they have to had started the course at home, (in case of reaction) and they have to have signed a form consenting use.

On our forms it lists childs name, date, medicine name time to be given, how much to be given and parent signs, then staff who gave it signature and then a witness, though i'm sensing childminders wouldn't need the wittness.

Parents aren't allowed to the "" when repeating it for the next day need to written again

HTH

I also have permissions [ncma] to give calpol and use sudocrem for nappy rash, but each child has to have their own labelled bottle of calpol/ tub of sudocrem, which I keep separate.

Calpol at nursery is only given if child has a high temp, and the child is sent home if he or she recieves it, but the parents sign consent forms when they start agreeing to our terms and conditions. We do not give calpol out on a daily basis. Sudocrem doesn't need forms, but parents can bring in their own if they prefer another brand, or the child is allergic. Medicine like asthma pumps, or creams for excema that are used often but not everyday, parents fill in a form that is kept on their record, and the staff that are with the child sign it to say that they know how to use e.t.c

You should have this all written in your medicine policy to cover yourself not just for when ofsted call. Anything that is given to the child must have consent, I use the ncma medicine and incident folder as it has all the paperwork ready to fill in and sign. Any prescribed medication should have been given to the child for 24 hours before they retirn to your setting. I don't give anything other than calpol unless its prescribed. If you haven't got it already get the folder from ncma as ofsted approve it and it is also used in many nurseries.

You need to have a prior consent form for things such as Calpol and they must have their own labelled bottle that you keep at your house or it can be in their bag.
You also need to ask the parent when they last gave a dose and how much and you MUST record it in a file.
If you want to have a look at my forms, send me an e-mail: [email protected]

Can I only agree to prescribed medicines?

Many thanks for all this

Have e-mailed you ripeberry

it is my understanding at nursery that we are only allowed to give children prescribed medicines, but it may be different at other nurseries or child minders

Prescribed by Pharmacist, nurse or Doctor (according to EYFS) so if the pharmacist gave them to the parents rather than they bought them over the counter then calpol etc is fine

I use forms for everything, but I also have had parents sign to say that I can administer calpol, after permission over the telephone, or arnica (for bruising), after permission over the telephone - I've never been quite sure whether all Ofsted inspectors will agree with this, but I use a slightly common sense approach. When they are collected the parent signs to show they agreed. All prescription medicine is recorded when the child arrives and leaves (on NCMA form).