Medical & First Aid Policies
Teachers and Teaching Assistants are not legally or contractually required to give children their medicine, or to supervise them taking it. Those who agree to administer medication do so voluntarily.
In addition, teaching unions advise that they shouldn’t give children their medicine unless they’ve had appropriate information or training in how to do it, particularly in the case of technically complex medications like insulin injectors and adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs, or EpiPens).
What medicines can we store and administer?
Parents are encouraged to schedule their child’s medication so that they don’t need a dose during the school day. For example, a child who is on antibiotics to be taken three times a day can usually take all three doses outside school hours.
If, however, your child does need medication during school hours, the following guidelines must be followed.
1. Only prescription medication should be brought into schools. This includes antibiotics, asthma inhalers, AAIs , insulin syringes and so on.
2. Medications must be brought into schools in their original container, as dispensed by a pharmacist, labelled with your child’s name. They must include instructions for administration, dosage and storage, as well as possible side effects. In some cases, schools will accept written instructions from a parent, but often, they will only administer medications if they come with the original patient information leaflet or written instructions from a doctor or pharmacist.
The exception to this is insulin, which can be brought into school inside an insulin injector pen or pump, rather than its original packaging.
3. You must provide written consent for your child to be given the medication. ( Please complete a form at the main school office)
4. All medications must be in date.
5. The smallest possible amount of medication should be brought into school. The exception to this is liquid medication, which can only be accurately and safely dispensed from the original container.
6. Medication will be kept in a secure place or in a secure fridge, according to storage instructions.
7. If a sharps box is required for the disposal of injectors, parents should obtain it on prescription and pass it on to the school.
8. You must collect any leftover medication that your child no longer needs, or medicines that have passed their expiry date, from the school. This should be done routinely at the end of every term.
9. We will keep a record of children’s medication, including the date and time of each dose, who admisntered the dose and how much was taken, and whether there were any side effects. This is mandatory for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage.