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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Should the nursery give calpol if I cant get there for over an hour?

35 replies

RosJ · 29/02/2008 22:27

I have a feeling this might have been discussed before....Last week I was called by nursery to say that DS had a temp of 39.5 and could I pick him up. I was about 1 1/2 hours away at the time and asked if they could give him calpol in case it got worse (the baby room is too hot in my opinion). So they said no, we cant because the policy is that if they need calpol they are too ill to be in nursery....

I can understand why they wouldn't want an ill child dropped off in the morning with a bottle of medicine, but it seems harsh to me for them to leave him feeling ill when I cannot be there for some time, through no fault of my own.

I spent nearly two hours on the bus in a traffic jam, crying (he's been ill a lot lately and I was at the end of my tether) and worrying in case his temp went up really high as it did the last time he had a virus.

I could have got my neighbour to pick him up, but tbh, he knows his keyworker much better and would be much happier getting some medicine from her.

Should I complain to the nursery? What are they likely to say? I don't want to be unreasonable.

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madamez · 29/02/2008 22:28

DOn't know how much help this is but my DS nursery asks parents to bring in a bottle of Calpol and a signed form giving the nursery permission to give DC calpol if they need it.

sophiewd · 29/02/2008 22:32

same as madamez

MuddlingThru · 29/02/2008 22:33

At the nursery that I use it used to be that you signed a form when you first put your child there and that then covered them. However more recently the rules changed so that you have to sign a form on the day the Calpol is needed. All very well for something like teething which you stand a chance of knowing about in advance but not much use for anything that crops up during the course of the day. Very annoying.

KatyMac · 29/02/2008 22:34

Get calpol from the Dr with a prescription label on it the rules are changing (I understand) & that may make a difference

Pennies · 29/02/2008 22:38

KatyMac - how is it changing. My friend and I are opening a nursery too and this will be important for us to be aware of.

KatyMac · 29/02/2008 22:40

EYFS - not calpol, teething gel, sudocream unless it has a prescription sticker on it - how crap is that

I am considering a sheet by the door which parents have to initial on their way out for all those things

Original poster

RosJ · 29/02/2008 22:41

Thanks its helpful to know that other nurseries have different policies, i know that schools dont give medicine so I thought nurseries might be the same.
Really I wouldn't expect it as a matter of course, but when he suddenly gets ill like this I dont see why not. I find it quite difficult leaving him with other people anyway, and it really upset me that they weren't really looking after him "because if he's sick he shouldn't be here"
They said "if it turns into an emergency we'll take him to hospital".

OP posts:

littlepinkpixie · 29/02/2008 22:56

The nursery that my children are at asks for sachets of calpol to be brought it, with signed permission for staff to give it.

Scoobi6 · 29/02/2008 23:01

Our nursery have called me when dd has become unwell and feverish. They asked for permission to give calpol and I got there as quick as I could (it took me an hour).

IMO they have a duty of care to prevent your child from suffering as much as possible while the child is on nursery premises. I would be if they refused to medicate my poorly child.

mishymoo · 29/02/2008 23:02

My DS's nursery had the same policy as yours Ros but have recently been bought out by another group. Their policy is that as a parent/guardian you sign a form giving them consent to give your child Calpol if needed to control their temp. They will then call me to let me know but if the temp hasn't gone back to normal within 20 minutes or so I need to go and fetch him. Hope that makes sense?

avenanap · 29/02/2008 23:04

That's a high temp for a little one. Small children can go into convulsions if they are febrile. Sometimes calpol won't reduce it enough so the child needs something else. Then the legalities step in. They can give emergency care but if a child has a temp this high they need to see a doctor to find out the cause. It's the legalities that get in the way, some children have reactions to calpol, there's the dosage aswell. We live in a compensation culture so this is why things like this happen. I hope your little one's feeling better soon.

Original poster

RosJ · 29/02/2008 23:10

Thanks he was actually fine by the time I got there-tbh I have a feeling that the room was too hot and that contributed. The last time we saw the doctor with a high fever he said to give calpol regularly in case he had a convulsion, so I was worried about this: was wondering if they were going to have to wait for him to have a convulsion before they cd give him care....

OP posts:

avenanap · 29/02/2008 23:14

This must have been really stressful. There are things that they can do to lower a temp without medication, a fan, a tepid wash, cool drink. If your little one was upset then this can make them hot and bothered. Ibuprofen works better for temps, it's quicker aswell, not for asthmatics though.

MadamePlatypus · 29/02/2008 23:15

The nursery that DS was at asked parents to sign a form giving them permission to administer Calpol. If Calpol had been administered you also had to sign a form at pick up time.

Given that young children and babies can develop high temperatures very, very quickly, it seems very odd that they wouldn't have a system that enabled them to give Calpol.

"If it turns into an emergency we'll take him to hospital" - very, very odd thing to say. I really don't think this is a normal way of doing things.

bossybritches · 29/02/2008 23:17

sod the legalities or protocol I would give ANY child with that high a temp Calpol or nurofen- what happens to duty of care FFS??

dizzydixies · 29/02/2008 23:17

at ours we had to sign a form allowing for the administration of calpol but they would normally phone first, other than that they are only allowed to give prescription meds that you bring in and sign in and out and leave instructions for - would have been more than annoyed in your situation

Original poster

RosJ · 29/02/2008 23:23

Yes that's how I feel bossy. I think I will talk to the manager and ask for clarification on the policy, and maybe some of the other parents.

The "emergency" comment: the person I was talking to was is very articulate, so I don't know if this was just her personal take on the matter, although it does ring true with what avanap says-maybe she was going by the book...

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avenanap · 29/02/2008 23:24

Duty of care does not extend to administering medication. I used to be a student nurse, we were told that if we stopped to help at the scene of an accident, trained or training, we could get sued. If we didn't stop then the NMC could strike us off. What are you supposto do? Most schools will not administer medication for the same reason unless it's an inhaler or an epipen in an emergency and the teachers will only intervene if the child is unable to give themselves medication and they have to have had training. Parents have to go into school to give their child medication.

We live in a mad world!

Original poster

RosJ · 29/02/2008 23:26

"The person I was talking to was is very articulate" (isn't) (and neither am I)

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MadamePlatypus · 29/02/2008 23:45

But avenanap, it seems that many nurseries feel that they have got around the problem by asking the parents to sign a form. I think a parent hands over more responsibility to a nursery than they do to a school - the nursery day is much longer than the school day and babies obviously need help taking medicine.

avenanap · 29/02/2008 23:49

Hmm, they are not nurses though, have they had training, do they know how to work out how much to administer? are they going to look out for side effects? It's far easier for them not to administer. If something goes wrong then they'll be sued, that's the problem. people are too afraid.

RipMacWinkle · 01/03/2008 07:13

FWIW, our nursery agrees with what KatyMac said. They will ONLY administer Calpol (or anything else) that has been prescribed for DS with a label showing that it's for him with the dosage detailed.

We have to provide written authorisaton for teething gels, powders and even nappy rash cream to be applied.

I suspect, was I called to come and collect DS nothing would be given to him either. I'm not sure at what point (if ever) this policy would be overridden.

HTH

belgo · 01/03/2008 07:17

my dd1's nursery in Belgium gives paracetamol without any of the fuss and bother of nurseries in the UK

MadamePlatypus · 01/03/2008 08:02

They can read the side of the bottle, like me. A nursery looking after babies has to be responsible for their welfare in a way that other organisations wouldn't be. If they didn't do this they wouldn't be able to function. DS's nursery was part of a fairly large chain. I can only assume that their lawyers had advised them that they would be covered by the documents the parents had signed. I agree that in general you have to think twice about giving somebody an elastoplast, but I do think nurseries are a special case.

blueshoes · 01/03/2008 08:09

I'd think that a nursery was taking the easy way out by refusing to give calpol ie putting its convenience over the interests of the child.

As it is, my dcs' nursery's policy is only to administer calpol if the temperature is above 39 (not just teething). I signed a consent form in advance and on the day itself, they also call before administering.

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