Medical Needs Policy

         Persons responsible: Malcolm Dodd  

         Updated October  2024

          Review Date: October 2025

Co-op Academy Swinton is committed to safeguarding every student. We acknowledge that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and ensure all of our staff are trained to be vigilant and aware of the signs and indicators of abuse and understand and follow safe working practices.

The viewpoints and voice of students is of paramount importance to our Academy and we will always listen to their wishes, thoughts and feelings, as well as identifying and supporting their needs. We will work alongside students to develop trusting, consistent and professional relationships and show we care by advocating the early help processes where possible. We will identify any difficulties or concerns early in order to act preventatively. We will always provide support and advice for families and parents/carers, whilst acting in the best interests of the student at all times and doing what matters most. Safeguarding also includes ensuring we work in an open and honest way, enabling our students to feel safe by providing a secure learning environment, are equally protected regardless of any barriers they may face and are able to grow and develop in the same way as their peers.

Co-op Academy Swinton safeguards students by:

● Security  -All members of staff have a responsibility for maintaining awareness of   buildings and grounds security and for reporting concerns that may come to light. Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy-September 2022, 37 Appropriate checks will be undertaken in respect of visitors (including volunteers and contractors) coming into school as outlined within guidance. Visitors will be expected to sign in and out via the office visitors log and to display a visitor’s badge whilst on site. Head Teachers and principals should use their professional judgment about the need to escort or supervise such visitors. Any individual who is not known or identifiable on site should be challenged for clarification and reassurance. The academy will not accept the behaviour of any individual (parent or other) that threatens school security or leads others (child or adult) to feel unsafe. Such behaviour will be treated as a serious concern and may result in a decision to refuse access for that individual to the academy site.

● Filtering and monitoring all internet traffic into the Academy to ensure that students cannot be exposed to harmful material and communication.

● Ensuring that all staff employed by the Academy have received Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance which is recorded in the Single Central Record. ● Providing regular training and briefings for all staff in child protection and ensuring that all staff and visitors know who our designated safeguarding officers and designated senior lead are.

● Ensuring that admission and attendance procedures are robust to protect students, ensure that they are safe and prevent students from going missing from education. ● Empowering young people to identify risks both within the Academy and in their community; ensuring that they have the skills and confidence to help and protect themselves and others.

● Making sure that all students understand the importance of reporting concerns about themselves and peers and giving them the confidence to discuss sensitive issues.

● Providing pastoral and inclusion support to ensure that all students have access to guidance and advice, and when needed referrals for additional agency support to meet their needs.

● Sharing information when appropriate with other agencies and services to ensure that students, children and their families have support to meet their needs and prevent students from harm or further harm.

● Taking immediate action and contacting the appropriate agencies when we believe that a student is in danger or is at risk of harm.

Co-op Academy Swinton is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of all of our pupils. We expect our staff, governors, wider professionals, volunteers and all other stakeholders to share this commitment. All of our policies are underpinned and linked to our safeguarding policy through this commitment. 

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, schools and education settings have a statutory duty to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. The aim is to ensure that children and young people with medical conditions affecting either their physical or mental health or both, are properly supported in school so that they can play a full and active role in school life, remain healthy, and achieve their academic potential. 

When the change in legislation was introduced, statutory guidance was published for the governing bodies of all schools, whether they are maintained by the local authority, academies or free schools. The statutory guidance applies to all education settings for children and young people up to the age of sixteen, and is good practice guidance for post-16 settings. 

Parents or carers of children with medical conditions may be concerned that their child’s health may deteriorate when they attend school, particularly if their conditions are long-term, complex and require ongoing support, medicines or care. Pupils may also experience long absences from school in order to receive medical care, which may have an impact not only on their educational attainment but also on their ability to re-integrate with their peers, which can affect their general wellbeing and emotional health. It is important that schools are able to offer appropriate support for these pupils in order to minimise the impact their condition has on their school life, and their school life has on their health. 

Policy aims: 

                       To ensure that the academy offers support to pupils requiring medication to attend school.      

                       To minimise the impact of conditions requiring medication on a pupil’s school life. To ensure                    that statutory guidance and legislation is followed. 

To explain the procedures for managing prescription medication which may need to be taken during the school day. 

To explain the procedures for managing prescription medication on school trips. - To outline

the roles and responsibilities for the administration of prescription medicines.

Roles and Responsibilities 

Supporting a child with a medical condition during school hours is not the sole responsibility of one person. 

Headteacher / Deputy Headteacher 

Should ensure that the academy’s policy is developed and effectively implemented. This includes ensuring that all staff are aware of the policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions and understand their role in its implementation. 

Should ensure that all staff who need to know are aware of the child’s condition. - Should also ensure that sufficient trained numbers of staff are available to implement the policy and deliver against all individual healthcare plans, including the administration of medication, including in contingency and emergency situations. - Should also make sure that school staff are appropriately insured and are aware that they are insured to support pupils in this way. 

Should contact the school nursing service in the case of any child who has a medical condition that may require support at school, but who has not yet been brought to the attention of the school nurse 

Parents 

Should provide the school with sufficient and up-to-date information about their child’s medical needs. 

Notify the school that their child has a medical condition which requires medication - Provide medicines and equipment 

Ensure they or another nominated adult are contactable at all times 

School Staff 

Any member of school staff may be asked to provide support to pupils with medical conditions, including the administration 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. 

Should receive sufficient and suitable training and achieve the necessary level of 

competency before they take on responsibility to support children with medical conditions. 

Any member of school staff should know what to do and respond accordingly when they

become aware that a pupil with a medical condition needs help.

Giving Prescription Medication 

Only medication that is prescribed will be given at Co-op Academy Swinton. 

Staff must not give prescription medicines or undertake healthcare procedures without appropriate training. In some cases, written instructions from the parent or on the medication container dispensed by the pharmacist may be considered sufficient for example the giving of oral antibiotics for a short term condition. 

For pupils with asthma, a Health Care Plan / asthma plan will be developed with the pupil and parents. For pupils with severe asthma assistance, advice and guidance will be sought from the school nursing team. Training may need to be sought for school staff. 

For pupils with diabetes who require insulin injections or bolus then specialist training will be sought from the diabetic nursing team. 

For pupils with long term medical needs, a Health Care Plan will be developed with the pupil, parents and school nursing team. Training will be sought for school staff. 

As set out in the Medical Needs Policy Co-op Academy Swinton manages medicines on school premises. 

● Medicines should only be administered at school when it would be detrimental to a child’s health or school attendance not to do so 

● No child under 16 should be given prescription or non-prescription medicines without their parent’s written consent – except in exceptional circumstances where the medicine has been prescribed to the child without the knowledge of the parents. In such cases, every effort should be made to encourage the child or young person to involve their parents while respecting their right to confidentiality. Schools should set out the circumstances in which nonprescription medicines may be administered 

● 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. Parents should be informed 

● Where clinically possible, medicines should be prescribed in dose frequencies which enable them to be taken outside school hours 

● 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 generally be available to schools inside an insulin pen or a pump, rather than in its original container 

● All medicines should be stored safely. Children should know where their medicines are 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 be always readily available to children and not locked away. This is particularly important to consider when outside of school premises, e.g. on school trips

● When no longer required, medicines should be returned to the parent to arrange for safe disposal. Sharps boxes should always be used for the disposal of needles and other sharps 

● School staff may administer a controlled drug to the child for whom it has been prescribed. Staff administering medicines should do so in accordance with the prescriber’s instructions. Schools should keep a record of all medicines administered to individual children, stating what, how and how much was administered, when and by whom. Any side effects of the medication to be administered at school should be noted in school 

Record Keeping 

Records offer protection to staff and children and provide evidence that agreed procedures have been followed. Parents should be informed if their child has been unwell at school, 

Parents should tell the school about the prescribed medicine that their child needs to take and provide details of any changes to the prescription or the support required. Parents will complete a "Parental agreement from" for school to administer medicine. Staff will complete and sign the record book each time they give medicine to a child.

Inhalers 

Some children in school are asthmatic and need inhalers. Children who use them need a named inhaler for school (Doctors will prescribe these). Inhalers can only be kept in school when parents have filled in the appropriate form from the school office. It is the parent's responsibility to regularly check the condition of inhalers and make sure they are still in date ensuring inhalers are replaced when necessary. Inhalers must be taken on all school

visits/trips. Inhalers can be taken as required by the child supported by an adult if necessary an adult must be aware that a child has taken their inhaler.

The Academy has emergency inhalers and spacers stored which are regularly checked by staff.

EpiPens

Epi Pens will be administered in school if required by staff that have volunteered and have received training. Parents must complete the appropriate form at the office and a care plan must be in place. We would encourage any parent whose child may need an EpiPen to have two in school in case one does not work. They must be stored carefully following the recommendations as they can be easily damaged.

The academy has emergency epipens stored which are regularly checked. Children with Long Term or Complex Medical Needs

It is important that school has sufficient information about the medical condition of any child with long term or complex medical needs. These may be severe allergies or chronic conditions. The school will develop a written health care plan for such children, involving parents and relevant health professionals. At times school will develop an Individual Health Care Plan before a formal diagnosis has been made to ensure that the child is appropriately cared for in school.

Trips and Outings

Co-op Academy Swinton will make reasonable adjustments to enable children with medical needs to participate fully and safely on visits. Planning arrangements will include necessary steps to include children with medical needs and risk assessments for such children. It may be that additional supervision is needed for a particular child. Arrangements for taking any necessary medicine will need to be considered. Party leaders supervising visits should always be aware of any medical needs and relevant emergency procedures. A copy of any health care plans should be taken on visits in the event of the information being needed in an emergency.

Risk Assessment and Management Procedures

All medicines may be harmful to anyone for whom they are not appropriate. Where the school agrees to administer any medicines the risks to the health of all others need to be properly controlled and managed. This duty is set out in the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations 2002 (COSHH). Large volumes of medicines will not be stored. Staff should only store, supervise and administer medicine that has been prescribed for an individual child. Medicines should be stored in accordance with the product instructions and in the original container in which they are dispensed. Staff should ensure that the supplied container is clearly labelled with the name of the child, the name and

dose of the medicine and the frequency of administration. Where a child needs two or more prescribed medicines each should be in a separate container. Non-emergency medicines will be kept in a secure place not accessible to children. Emergency medicines, such as inhalers, should be readily available to children and not locked away. Medicines needing to be kept in a refrigerator will be kept in the refrigerator in the pastoral office where children have no access.

Parents are responsible for collecting medicines and disposing of them when they are no longer needed.

Parents/carers of children with identified medical conditions will be informed of any infectious diseases in school which may affect their child’s health. It may be necessary for the child to stay off school for a period of time. In such cases school will provide work for the child to ensure continuity of their education.

Supply teachers and new members of staff will be informed of this policy during their induction.

Refusal

If a child refuses their medication, parents will be contacted immediately. We cannot force a child to take their medication.

Staff procedures 

We have identified members of staff in school who have agreed to administer medication.

Treatment procedures, such as giving rectal valium, suppositories, or intermittent catheterisation, must only be carried out by staff that have been formally trained and assessed as competent.

Where a child has an ongoing medical condition, the parents and child (if appropriate) will be asked to help complete a "Health Care Plan" with the Facilities Manager, Year Team and SENCO. A copy will be kept in the Medical File.

When a child needs medication, but is considered well enough to attend school, the parent must fill in a "Parental Medical Consent". The form will stay within the Medical File and medicine will be stored in the Main Office. Details of medicines given will be listed in the "Administer Of Medicines Administered To All Children" which can be found in the Medical file.

Asthma Inhalers

Advice suggests that children should keep inhalers with them whenever possible. Children will have their inhalers in the classroom under the supervision of the adults.

Epi Pens

Advice states that where possible two pens should be in school in case the first does not work. It also states they must be carefully stored, close to where the child is. In extreme cases the pen may need to be with the child at all times and this would be arranged and identified on a care plan.

Emergency Planning

The Medical File will be kept in the office with the Facilities Manager in a locked cabinet, Office staff will have access to the cabinet.