Medicines in school
Please see our Medicine Policy in the Policies section of our website.
If there are any circumstances (including health problems), which might affect your child, would you please let us know so that we can fully understand your child’s circumstances.
At Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School the following procedures are to be followed:
o Medicines will only be administered at school when it would be detrimental to a child’s health or school attendance not to do so.
o No child under 16 should be given prescription or non-prescription medicines without their
parents/carers written consent (see Appendix 4) – except in exceptional circumstances where
the medicine has been prescribed to the child without the knowledge of the parents/carers. In
such cases, every effort should be made to encourage the child or young person to involve their parents/carers while respecting their right to confidentiality.
o With parental/carer written consent we will administer non-prescription medicines. However, this is at the headteacher’s discretion, as we must consider whether we have the necessary staffing resources to do so throughout the school day.
o Medication, such as pain relief, should never be administered without first checking maximum dosage and when previous doses were taken. Parents/carers should be informed.
o If a child requires four doses of medication throughout the day, we ask that, where possible,
parent administer the first dose at home, allowing the school to administer the midday dose.
The third dose can then be given at home by the parent or carer.
o This approach will minimise the number of times of times a staff member leave their usual
duties to administer medication.
o Medicines must be provided in the original packaging, with clear directions and written records must be kept in line with the school policy.
o The school will obtain confirmation from the parent/carer that the child has used this
medication before and did not suffer any allergic or other adverse reaction.
o Please note: the DfE’s statutory guidance Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions states a child under 16 should never be given medicine containing aspirin unless prescribed by a doctor.
o Where clinically possible, medicines should be prescribed in dose frequencies which enable
them to be taken outside school hours.
o We will only accept prescribed medicines, with written permission from parent/carer that 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 be in-date but will generally be available to the school inside an insulin pen or a pump, rather than its original container this must be labelled with the child’s name and class.
o We have systems in place to check that medicines held in school is in line with the pupil’s HCP and is within date.
o It is recommended that a primary school pupil should never carry medicine to and from school. Medicine must be handed to any member of school staff (class teacher, office staff, school business manager, ETA or SLT) as soon as the pupil arrives at school.
o All non-emergency medicines will be stored safely in the staffroom locker. All non-emergency medicines will be kept in a locked cupboard used only for that purpose. Some medicines need to be refrigerated. These may only be kept in a refrigerator containing food if they are in an airtight container and clearly labelled. There will be restricted access to a refrigerator holding medicines.
o Pupils will know where their medicines are at all times and be able to access them immediately. Where relevant, they will know who holds the key to the storage facility, all staff can access the locked staffroom.
o Medicines and devices, such as asthma inhalers, blood glucose meters, hypo treatment, buccal midazolam and adrenaline pens should be always readily available and not locked away. Asthma inhalers should be marked with the child’s name.
o A pupil who had been prescribed a controlled drug may legally have it in their possession if they are competent to do so, but passing it to another pupil for use is an offence. Monitoring
arrangements may be necessary. Otherwise we will keep all controlled drugs that have been
prescribed for a pupil securely stored in a non-portable container and only named staff will
have access. The name of the person(s) responsible for the cabinet or administering medicines should be stated on the cabinet. Controlled drugs should be easily accessible in an emergency. In cases of emergency the key must be readily available to all members of staff to ensure access.
A record should be kept of any doses used and the amount of the controlled drug held in the
school.
o Staff administering medicines must do so in accordance with the prescriber’s instructions.
Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School will keep a record of all medicines administered to
individual pupils (see Appendices 6 and 7), stating what, how and how much was administered,
when and by whom. Any side effects of the medicine to be administered at school must be
noted. Written records are kept of all medicines administered to pupils. Those records offer
protection to staff and pupils and provide evidence that agreed procedures have been
followed.
o Only one member of staff at any one time should administer medicines (to avoid the risk of
double dosing). Arrangements should be made to relieve this member of staff from other duties while preparing or administering doses (to avoid the risk of interruption before the procedure
is completed). If more than one person administers medicines a system will be arranged to
avoid the risk of double dosing, e.g., a rota, routine consultation of the individual pupil’s
medicine record before any doses are given, etc.
o When no longer required, medicines are returned to parents/carers to arrange safe disposal.
Sharp boxes should always be used for the disposal of needles and other sharps.
o We hold stocks of emergency salbutamol inhalers on site. These are kept in the staffroom. If
they are needed, they are given to the pupil who has used them and replaced. One emergency
inhaler should be taken on all educational off site visits.
o We hold one emergency autoinjector pen on site. These are kept in the staffroom in the locker.
