Prescribed Medication in Nurseries

[MumMVT]

Hello All,

My husband and I are looking at potential nurseries for when our child is 7 - 8 months old. The nurseries we have been looking at have said that unless medication is prescribed they wont administer it to our child. This includes over the counter medicines like Calpol.

Can anyone with experience in this explain to us the potential implications of this (ie getting a prescription) and any other solutions they have found. This might be common sense for a lot of you but as potential first time parents we don't know if this rule could be key in choosing a nursery?

Thanks

If your baby needs calpol, they are probably not well enough to be at nursery! That said, once or twice I have approved the administration of (nursery supplied) calpol when they have rung me to say child has a high temp, please come and collect.

The prescribed only is, afaik, quite common. So if child NEEDS something, they can have it, but if parents want to dose up on things that it is a judgement call on, they won;t do it.

For really little people, most things need prescribing anyway - you can get drops for conjunctivitis over the counter for over 2's, but younger kids need a script. This is the only time this rule has caused us issues - I took my 2 yr old to the late night chemist to get eye drops, and nursery refused to administer as the dr hadn't prescribed - even tho it was obvious he had conjunctivitis, and the drops are the same as the Dr would have given.....

Nappy rash creams are separate to this. I don't know re teething remedies, as we've never used them.

Hello, having worked in a nursery, nurseries are allowed to administer Calpol if the child has a temp after informing and getting permission from the parent, prescribed medicines can be given if the child if the child's been on them for 48 hours previously, we weren't allowed to give medicines such as cough medicine etc unless prescribed! Good luck!

pickcherries you are right that they are allowed, but that doesn't mean they have to. each nursery has its own policies and procedures to adhere to.

It depends what the painkiller is required for.

If it's a temperature or other signs of acute illness, it's normal to refuse to administer (child better off at home in those circs).

But as I found out after DS broke his arm, there may be wiggle room if it's a child who is clearly well enough to be there but could get a bit achey.

It would add massively to the NHS drugs bill if everyone sought paediatric painkillers on prescription rather than just buying a bottle. For you'd need a fresh bottle for every incidence of illness (so nursery knew it was for this child and this illness, not ledt over from before or for a sibling). Not to mention how much clinic time it would take for the extra prescribing.

I have not encountered this. The only concern I would have if is my dc spiked a temperature and should have Calpol to lower it before I can get there to collect. TBH a sick child that needs medicating should be at home though.

Ours has a medicine form which we have to sign stating what circumstances they can give calpol under. Dc1 also has a separate form for ibuprofen for neurological protection (even a mild temp caused by teething triggers seizures).

Anything else such as reflex meds or antibiotics has to be given 48hours prior to being given at nursery in case of side effects and does have to be prescribed.

I did get a prescription bottle if calpol which I keep in DSs nursery bag. Nursery have given him some on a couple of occasions, when teething badly or when he's had a temp. They always ring first and confirm its ok and how much I want to give. It means he can get it straight away since I work in healthcare and its sometimes difficult to leave immediately to collect him if I'm dealing with patients

Our nursery won't give any meds at all, inc prescribed meds. A bit of a pain when DD had antibiotics she was meant to have at lunchtime. It was the end of the course so she wasn't ill anymore but they said I had to come in and do it. Yes, very convenient

the setting I work in will administer Calpol to bring down temperature in case of fever, or for pain relief after immunisation. We would also administer it if it was prescribed. I think these arethe only conditions we are allowed to administer Calpol under.

Our nursery won't give any meds at all, inc prescribed meds

I wonder how they would get around that with asthmatic children, how can they refuse to give inhalers which are prescribed medicine?

What about teething? That often made my dc unwell enough to need medication, but not unwell enough to need to be at home. Taking time off work for teething is not realistic.

If you google 'ofsted guide to administering medicines in early years settings' you should find a document giving details of what is/isn't allowed. Of course every setting will have its own policy - but at least you can have a bit of background knowledge when asking questions about these policies etc.

Dc's nursery will give one dose of paracetamol after checking with a parent, but not more than that (in practice they have texted again asking if it would be OK rather than making ds wait while I travelled to collect him). Prescribed meds they will give if necessary, but if short-term eg antibiotics ask for a Dr letter to confirm the child is well enough to be at nursery, and if possible for meds to be twice rather than 3x or 4x daily, so can be done at home.

I know they have a couple inhalers belonging to children so must administer them if necessary. Wouldn't blanket refusal to administer to asthmatic kids contravene the Equality Act, as training staff to do it would be a reasonable adjustment (are such things covered in childcare training?)

Yes that is a good point about inhalers, trying to remember.... they must be able to administer inhalers, but my memory is hazy re the actual conversation, it was quite a while ago and the conversation was about antibiotics.

It would be illegal not to give inhalers and epi pens. The eyfs guidance states that nurseries should only give prescribed medicines- and settings should be doing this as part of being healthy- however, the guidance does recognise that in some instances calpol is required. Each setting has its own medicine policy, we will administer it over a 24 hour period I.e if baby is teething. However only for that 24 hour period, if they require it again in a 48 hour period they are advised to stay at home. No nursery should give cough medicine type things, however nappy creams and eczema creams are different.

Does your child have a condition that is likely to require the regular administration of medication, prescribed or otherwise?

If not, then I would just choose a nursery that seems to have a sensible policy on the administration of medicines. Antibiotics, inhalers and nappy/eczema creams are obvious examples of things that you would want a nursery to be able to administer. Some courses of ABs are long, and to keep a child off when they are back to their normal selves, just because they are required to finish off their ABs and the nursery isn't prepared give, would be a total pain.

It is as well to inform yourself at the outset about sickness policies of nurseries. Usually, these will have things in them (for good reason) about keeping your child off for 48 hours following D and V, not sending them in when they are unwell, pickup arrangements when a child becomes ill in nursery - this is likely to be more of an issue for you as working parents than whether the nursery will administer meds, I think.

Have you thought about a childminder or a nanny?