Westwaysprimary.co.uk

Managing Medicines in School

Aims of Policy
• To ensure that children with medical needs have equal access to the learning • To define procedures for managing prescription medicines which need to be • To define procedures for the administration of controlled drugs • Define procedures for managing medicines on educational visits • Clearly state the roles and responsibilities of staff in managing the administering or supervision of administering of medicines • Define procedures for the storage of medicines
Managing Prescription medicines which need to be taken during the school day.
• Parents have the prime responsibility for their child’s health and should provide full information about their child’s medical needs, including details on medicine their child needs. If appropriate, parents should obtain information for the school from relevant health professionals. • Medicines should only be taken at school when it would be detrimental to a child’s health if they did not take it during the school day • Parents are to ask the prescriber that wherever possible dose frequencies allow medicine to be taken out of school hours i.e. three times a day being in the morning, after school and bedtime. • School should only accept medicines that have been prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or pharmacist prescriber • Medicines will only be given if provided in the original container with the prescriber’s instructions for administration included. • School will not alter the dosage from the prescriber’s instructions on parental • Any medicine no longer needed shall be returned to the parent for disposal • NON-PRESCRIPTION MEDICINES WILL NOT BE GIVEN BY A MEMBER OF STAFF unless there is specific prior written permission from the parents i.e. throat lozenges etc • Children will NOT be given aspirin or medicines containing ibuprofen unless • A list of children taking regular medication will be placed in the school
Procedures for administering Controlled Drugs
• Any member of staff may administer a controlled drug to the child for whom it has been prescribed in accordance with the prescriber’s instructions • When a parent gives permission, a child who has been prescribed a controlled drug may legally have it in their possession. • It is permissible for a school to look after a controlled drug where it has been agreed it will be administered to the child for whom it has been prescribed. • Controlled drugs will be kept in a locked container which only named staff have access to. A record of named staff will be kept. A record of administering will be kept for safety purposes. • Any controlled drug no longer needed shall be returned to the parent for Procedures for managing medicines on educational visits
As with procedures for administering prescribed medicines above and:
• Wherever possible it is good practice for school to encourage children with medical needs to participate in educational visits. • Where necessary, an individual risk assessment will be undertaken for • Where necessary an additional helper/or the parent will accompany the child • Where a health care plan is in place, a copy should be taken by the teacher in charge in order to have any relevant information available in case of emergency • If staff are concerned about ensuring the safety of a child/or other children on the visit school should seek parental/medical advice as appropriate.
Roles and responsibilities in managing the administering or supervision of
administering of medicines
Parents:
• Defined as the person/people with parental responsibility including foster • Only one parent need request medicines be administered. A court should settle disagreements between parents. School should continue to give the medicine as per instructions until a court decides otherwise. • Should a child be a ‘Looked After Child’ staff should liase with Wendy Scott in role as Designated Teacher for Looked After Children. • The Governing Body will monitor and review this policy annually • The Headteacher will ensure the policy is known to staff and implemented • The Headteacher will ensure staff receive any relevant training • The Headteacher will ensure parents are informed that if acutely ill a child • The Headteacher will agree with parents exactly what support is needed and appropriate for both the child and school and seek advice from medical advisors should a parents request seem unreasonable • Staff should be made fully aware of a child’s medical needs and procedures to follow if an emergency was to occur. The child’s parents/health professionals should provide this information • All staff should be aware of the likelihood of an emergency occurring and • Teachers are not required to administer or supervise the administration of medicines. School should ensure there are enough appropriately trained support staff to carry out this role. • Any member of staff agreeing to accept responsibility for administering prescribed medicines should receive appropriate training. Procedures for the storage of medicines

• All medicines are potentially harmful to anyone for whom they are not • Large volumes of medicines should not be stored by school • Medicines should be stored in accordance with instructions i.e. correct • Medicines will only be accepted if clearly labelled with name, dosage and in • Children should be made aware of where their medicine is stored and who is • All emergency medicines such as inhaler and adrenaline pens should be • In KS1 and KS2 medicines not requiring refrigeration will be kept in the main school office. Those requiring refrigeration will be kept in the fridge in the PPA room, which is not accessed by children. • In Foundation medicines, including inhalers, not requiring refrigeration will be kept centrally. Those requiring refrigeration will be kept in the Foundation Stage fridge in the staffroom. • In KS1 asthma inhalers will be kept centrally in the classroom. • In KS2 asthma inhalers will be kept by the child in their own classroom, the children will be responsible for the safe storage and use of their inhaler. Parents are to ensure children are aware of the importance of safe storage/not sharing medicine and how/when to use the inhaler. • Any medication which needs to be taken daily in the longer term i.e. Ritalin will be stored in the office subject to the conditions outlined previously re dosage, packaging etc. Children taking this medication will be told who is responsible for administering their medication. N.B If a child refuses medication, staff should not force them to take it but inform the parents at the earliest opportunity. 17.9.08

Source: http://www.westwaysprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Managing-Medicines-in-School.pdf