Managing Medications in Schools and Early years
Posted by Keri Hartwright
Last updated 7th March 2023
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When taking children into a school or early years setting who has additional medical needs you may well need to store medication. If this is the case, it is vital to make sure the correct policies and procedures need to be followed by Senior Leadership Teams and all staff involved.Â
Medical conditions schools have to manage include:
- severe allergies,
- asthma,
- epilepsy,
- haemophilia,
- sickle cell anaemia and
- diabetes.
Of course this is not an exhaustive list and there may be more complex medical conditions to deal with.
Considerations will include how to store the medication, when to administer it and so forth. In order to make sure this is carried out safely medication should never be accepted or administered without proper knowledge and training both to understand the condition and medication.Â
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How should we store medication?
- It should be in date
- It needs to be prescribed for the child if possible
- The child should have a care plan in place.
- The medication should be securely stored out of reach of the children
- Emergency medication should not be locked away as it may need to be accessible in an emergency
- Staff should have appropriate knowledge and training about both the condition and the medication
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If a parent does present with medication for a child, without appropriate paperwork then a school or early years setting should proceed with caution. Medication should not be given without appropriate knowledge of doses, route of administration, when it needs to be given and the side effects which they may suffer. Once medication is given there is documentation to complete and other procedures to follow.
Sometimes a parent may be waiting further diagnosis, or uncertain exactly what the condition involves. Even in this circumstances it is important to proceed with caution. For further information on the subject, follow this link Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
To book a first aid course why not get in touchÂ
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