Administering Medication
Medicines should only be brought into school when essential i.e. where it would be detrimental to the child’s health if the medicines were not administered during the school day. Wherever possible, a parent or carer will be required to visit school to administer routine medicines such as paracetamol or antibiotic doses.
- We can only administer prescribed/non prescribed medicines 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 still be in date, but will generally be available to schools inside an insulin pen or a pump, rather than its original container.
- No child under 16 should be given prescription or non-prescription medicines without their parent's/carer's written consent. The adult is required to complete a parental agreement form in order for the medicine to be administered by school staff.
- A child under 16 should never be given medicine containing aspirin unless prescribed by a doctor. Medication e.g. for pain relief should never be administered without first checking maximum dosages and when the previous dose was taken.
- In the case of antibiotics, only those prescribed four times a day may be administered at school or three times per day if attending after school club.
- Medicines will not be accepted in school that require medical expertise or intimate contact.
- All medicines must be brought to the school office by an adult. Medicines must NEVER be brought to school in a child’s possession. This includes cough medicines/sore throat sweets.