Nursery workers/owners - Calpol Policy??

[hf128219]

Does anyone know what is Ofsted's position on Nurseries administering Calpol?

Thanks!

Bump!

Someone must know - pretty please!

I thought you could if it was prescribed (so sticker from pharmacy) & if the parent signed permission on the day

But I did hear something about calpol masking 'other problems' so shouldn't be used

This is where it is confusing. Some nurseries seem to administer it as and when needed - the parents sign a form saying that is OK.

I think the EYFS rules changed in 2008 - does anyone know?

Yep Sept 2008 - but it is still open to interpretation

here, only medicine prescribed by doctor and showing childs name and dosage can be given to the child.

But that goes aganist EYFS legislation because it says that a pharmacist can prescribe it (it would have the name & dosage on it - pharmacists can do that apparently)

It's all too complicated

DD1 school no
DD2 nursery no.

Load of old nonsense, almost as stupid as making 2 years olds tidy up their own toys!

Our nursery we had to have parental consent for calpol when they started - so if they were ill we could administer it to them if poorly (high temp etc) - and parents could also sign it in if the child would need it.

To give you a bit of background: my dd (15 months) goes to nursery full time. I can sign Calpol in on a daily basis if she is, for example, teething.

Today I got a call at 10.30 to say she had a high temperature and had to collect her. I collected her - and gave her Calpol at home. She was fine - it was like nothing was wrong with her after the Calpol. I would say she is teething. We spent the rest of the day playing in the garden!

What gets me is that I have friends who get a phone call from their nursery to say their dc has a temperature and 'can we give them some Calpol?' Answer 'Yes'. Temperature gone, happy baby.

It was lucky I was working at home today as my office is 90/120 mins away.

Ok all very confusing but here goes

We were advised by LEA and PLA not to give calpol unles prescribed by GP, for particular child at particular time of illness.

However on our last Ofsted inspection we were told that as parents have pre-authorised us to give to child and signed to say there are no allergies etc. then we are absolutely fine to administer to children, we were advised that this didnt have to be prescribed by GP as parents had authorised but we should hold individual bottles of Calpol for each child due to cross contamination (Hope your medicine cabinet is plenty big enough )

Most recently we were audited by the PLA and told that since EYFS rules have been relaxed and we can now give calpol that is pre-authorised.

We have decided that to cover ourselves parents pre-authorise calpol on commencement at nursery. We only use this in an emergency and will only administer 1 dose when all other methods of cooling child down have failed. We also make every effort to contact parent prior to medicine being administered.

I think as long as you have a strict medication policy stating this and have correct paperwork in place this is acceptable (At least our last ofsted inspector agreed with this anyway - who knows what the next will say )

Sorry x posted

It is always difficult to determine whether a child has a high temp due to teething or some other illness - as KatyMac said earlier - Calpol can 'mask' other problems which is why it is advised for us not to administer it so freely. Often my children would be very poorly but after a dose of calpol would be climbing the walls, only to drop again when the medicine wore off!!

I am very surprised that your nursery allows you to sign in calpol on a daily basis for teething to be honest, I think that although Ofsted have changed their stance on administering medication - it is still only to be used 'in emergencys' and not to be given out freely.

Personally I would not be happy about giving calpol out on such a regular basis and I am sure most nurseries would have the same policy.

If your DD is suffering with her teeth so much it may be worth speaking to your G.P about it - If he feels that her teeth are causing the temperature he can prescribe paracetamol and could also write a note to the nursery. This way the nursery are covered as well and may feel a little happier about letting DD attend.

We do have a few children who suffer from febrile convuslsions when they get too hot and we have letters from G.P. informing us to administer calpol straight away if they develop a fever. This covers us in the event of Ofsted.

Linzs - thanks. I don't mean I sign in Calpol everyday - just once in a blue moon.

I thought the purpose of EYFS was to promote a healthy child. How can denying medicine for what could have been 90/120 mins today be in the best interests of dd?

Just as a matter of interest who would collect her if she threw up & you were 120 mins away?

(just being nosy because I lost a child over this matter - don't answer if you don't want to)

Well dh would - works 15 mins away. However he spends a lot of time away so if he wasn't here it would be me - 120 mins later.

That would be a problem for me I'm afraid. I can hardly isolate a throwing up little one & in 2 hours it would have been passed to every child in the setting - I was hoping you had a solution as I lost a family over this one

We closed 24 hrs later as all staff had it

Well I was talking about High Temperatures and Calpol - not D&V!

It was the delay in treatment I was questioning actually in case you had come up with a solution to a problem I had

Sorry

It all goes back to 'masking illnesses' that could potentially be passed onto others, and aims to protect all children (and adults) at the nursery. Obviously we have to look at the nursery children as a whole and protect them all from risk of infection and promote all of their health.

Obviously if your DD is only teething then she should be fine at nursery (Which is where the G.P's letter helps you). But it is very difficult for nursery staff to recognise that it is only teeth and not something that could spread to the other children and staff causing staff sickness and eventually can jeapordise staff/children ratios.

I have three DC and own/manage my own nursery so I do sympathise with you - It is extremely difficult to manage a career and childcare.

Hope you manage to come to an agreeable solution with the nursery manager.

Thanks all!

Linzs - I agree that Calpol can mask other illnesses. But I think we are talking about non-contagious ones, such as meningitis.

And anyway you would hope that carers would know if the dc was well or unwell beforehand?

Really Katymac - you lost a family over this!!

(Hi by the way haven't seen you in ages)

How could they hold you to blame for child being ill?

We often have children sick during the day with no obvious signs before hand.

It is very, very difficult to deal with - often parents aren't happy about being called to collect (One parent once told me it was my responsibility as I care for the child - bloody cheek you can imagine what I told them!!). And if you are not careful whole nursery has it and buisness is under pressure.

Most of our parents are at least an hour away but we do ask for an emergency contact's details and would ask for them to arrange someone else to collect child if it was deemed necessary. Though we are fortunate enough to have spare staff and rooms that we can isolate children into if need be - unfortunately I know that this is not the case for all, and not always possible.

Apart from D&V why do you need to isolate?

If my child was ill enough to need calpol I would want them home, not at nursery.

Apart from D&V there are lots of other infectious diseases that you may need to isolate a child for, to protect others who come into contact with them.

Some of these may be harmful to pregnant women for example or children who have a weakened immune system due to other health issues.

In fact when I was pg with DS#2 I caught parvovirus (Slapped cheek) from one of the nursery children and we were told that the baby's health could have been compromised. I had to have two weekly scans as baby's lungs could have been damaged.

One of my staff members actually had to have emergency CS as she had also caught this and her baby's life was in danger as he had fluid on his lungs, and had stopped growing.

But with slapped cheek the infectious period is before the symptoms develop. So you wouldn't know.

Seeker - I agree, but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. Are you not a Forces wife?!