Guidelines for Managing Medication in Schools

 

Medicines should only be given in school when it is necessary and essential to a child’s health or school attendance. Medicines should not be given on an ongoing basis, unless prescribed by a doctor.

 

Medicine (both prescription and non-prescription medication) must only be administered to a child where written permission for that particular medicine has been obtained from the child’s parent or carer. 

 

Schools should only accept prescribed medicines if these are in date, labelled, provided in the original container as dispensed by a pharmacist and include instructions for administration, dosage and storage. The exception to this is insulin, which must still be in date, but will be available to schools inside an insulin pen/pump, rather than in its original container.

 

Prescription medicines – will only be prescribed by a doctor with a recognised pharmacy label on the medication

 

Over the Counter Medicines – the medicine is in date, and staff will check how long the medication can be taken for on the label.  Storage requirements will be checked. Staff will find out when child started to take the medication and ensure that medication is not given for longer than the prescribed number of days on the label. Should a parent/carer wish to give longer, they will require a prescription from the doctor to do so, and then the bottle will have a pharmacy label with instructions.

 

Self-Management

Children who can take their own medicines themselves or manage procedures, will have the appropriate level of supervision.

 

If it is not appropriate for a child to self-manage, then staff will help to administer medicines and manage procedures for them.

 

If a child refuses to take medicine or carry out a necessary procedure, staff will not force them to do so, but follow procedures agreed in the individual healthcare plan. Parents will be informed so that alternative options can be considered.

 

Golders Hill School staff support and encourage children who are able to take responsibility to manage their own medication from an early age and this is encouraged. The age at which children are ready to take care of and be responsible for their own medicines varies.

 

Storage of Medicines

All medicines will be stored safely in a locked container the fridge. Medicines should not be stored with food. As the children get older they should know where their medicines are stored at all times and be able to access them immediately. Where relevant, they should know who holds the key to the storage facility. Medicines and devices such as asthma inhalers, blood glucose testing meters and adrenaline pens should always be readily available to children and not locked away. On a school outing a designated member of staff will take a child's medication in a lockable portable bag. 

 

School staff may administer a controlled drug to a child for whom it has been prescribed. Staff administering medicines will do so in accordance with only the prescribers instructions and not the parent/carer instructions.

 

A record of all medicines administered to individual children will be kept.

 

Record Keeping – every child who has medication given to them at school must have a yellow form completed. This will be kept in the child’s file. 

 

Disposal of Medicines

Where no longer required, medicines will be returned to the parent for safe disposal. Sharp boxes will be used for the disposal of needles and any other sharps.

 

Points to note:-

Medication will be administered in a hygienic and sensitive manner. Medication will not be administered in a public arena – except in the case of an emergency i.e., epipen administration

 

Unacceptable Practice

School staff will use their discretion and judge each case on its merits with reference to a child’s individual healthcare plan. It is generally not acceptable practice to:-

 

• Assume that every child with the same condition requires the same treatment
• Send children with medical conditions home frequently or prevent them from staying for normal school activities, unless this is specified in their individual healthcare plan
• If a child becomes ill, they will not be sent to the school office unaccompanied or with someone unsuitable

 

Advice on the role of School Staff

Any member of school staff may be asked to provide support to pupils with medical conditions, including the administering of medicines, although they cannot be required to do so. Although administering medicines is not part of teachers’ professional duties, they should take into account the needs of pupils with medical conditions that they teach. School staff will receive sufficient and suitable training and achieve the necessary level of competency before they take on responsibility to support children with medical conditions.

 

Reviewed May 2019

 

 

 

This policy relates to the following legislation:

• Medicines Act 1968
• Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
• Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974
• Children Act 1989
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• Education Act 1996
• Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998
• Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001
• Education Act 2002
• Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002
• Children 2004
• Equality Act 2010
• School Premises (England) Regulations 2012
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
• Children and Families Act 2014 (and 2015 proposals)

 

 

Golders Hill School will prepare an EHP for all children with diagnosed medical conditions, setting out the agreed procedures.

We support Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that children should be encouraged to form and to express their views.

 

Golders Hill School has a commitment to promote equality and an equality impact assessment has been undertaken in line with the Equality Act 2010.

 

 

 

Equality Impact Assessment

Under the Equality Act 2010 we have a duty not to discriminate against people on the basis of their age, disability, gender, gender identity, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

 

This policy has been equality impact assessed and we believe that it is in line with the Equality Act 2010 as it is fair, it does not prioritise or disadvantage any pupil and it helps to promote equality at this school.

 

Monitoring the Effectiveness of the Policy

The practical application of this policy will be reviewed annually or when the need arises by the coordinator and the Head Teacher

 

Linked Policies

 

 

 

 

Initial Equality Impact Assessmen

Please complete an initial equality impact assessment once this policy has been customised to suit your purposes.