Medicines

Requirement:

EYFS 2017 > Medicines > 3.44; 3.45; 3.46

EYFS 2017 > Staff qualifications, training, support and skills > 3.26

As a childcare provider we will ensure that we implement an effective procedure to meet the individual needs of a child when administering medicines.

Procedure (how we put the policy into practice)

Where your child needs a prescribed medicine, please ensure that we have this when you drop off your child. This must be clearly labelled with the child’s name.

You will need to ensure that we have the correct instructions on administering and storing the medicine.

We are happy to give your child non-prescribed medication, such as cough mixture, Calpol, Nurofen, teething gel etc. We will use our own medicine as we can control the quality and batch number/expiry dates.
 
You will need to give us written permission to administer any medicine by our online system, email, text or WhatsApp message. This needs to include what medicine to give; the reason for this and most importantly, dosage and time the medicine was given 24 hours prior to your child coming into the setting. This is so that we can be sure that we do not overdose on the medicine.

We will ensure that all medication provided to us will be stored correctly and we will check that it is still within its expiry date. In addition, we will:

• Keep records of all medicines administered to children in our care
• Inform parents when a medicine has been administered including the time and dosage
• All medicines will be stored and kept strictly in accordance with the product instructions and in the original container in which it was dispensed
• We will work in partnership with parents to ensure the correct medication, dosage etc. is given
• If the administration of prescription medicine requires technical/medical knowledge then we will attend training from a qualified health professional. The training should be specific to the child in question
• Prescription medication will only be administered to the child it is prescribed for by a doctor, dentist, nurse or pharmacist
• Non-prescription medication such as pain and fever relief will only be administered with parents’ previous written consent and only when there is a health reason to do so
• If we cannot administer the medicine whilst the child is in our care, we will inform parents of who will be responsible for the administration of medicines to their child
• If we have a child in our care with long-term medical needs then we will ensure that all staff have sufficient information about the child’s medical condition and will work in partnership with parents to assist the administration of any prescribed medication

If your child has a self-held medication, please obtain an additional one for us to be kept on the premises. Older children can easily forget to bring home an inhaler. What could be a simple puff of Ventalin then turns into a major incident and a trip to the hospital. If your child has acute allergies and carries/needs an EpiPen, please discuss the matter with us.

Review date: 31 December 2025