Download Exchange of Information with Parents

SICK CHILD POLICY
DATED
3rd June 2013
Reviewed and updated 29th September 2014
CRIGGLESTONE DAY CARE LIMITED
To be reviewed annually.
Policy Statement
We provide care for children who are healthy and who do not pose a known risk to other
children, staff or other service users.
Parents and carers are asked not to send children to setting when they are ill or infectious,
and to consider the impact that doing so could have on other children, their families and
staff.
Children who are sick or infectious
Where a child becomes ill whilst in setting, or is considered by staff to be too ill to remain in
our care, (e.g. generally unwell, high temperature, obvious infections, in need of constant,
uncharacteristic one to one attention), parents/carers will be contacted to collect the child or
arrange for them to be collected by a named person.
Where a parent cannot be contacted the person(s) named on the child’s ‘Record on
Admission’ as an emergency contact will be contacted to collect them. Where no one can be
contacted repeated efforts will be made.
In the period while the child is waiting to be collected they will be made as comfortable as
possible and kept away from other children if they are thought to be infectious.
Should staff feel that more immediate attention is necessary, a decision may be made to
seek advice from the child’s GP or to call an ambulance if appropriate. Permission to receive
medical attention is sought as part of the day care contract with parents and evidence of this
permission will be provided to the G.P. or hospital as appropriate.
Where medical emergency aid is sought, every effort will be made to contact the child’s
parent/carer as soon as possible. Where they are not contactable, a member of staff will
remain with the child and if necessary accompany them to the hospital, only leaving when
they have handed over care to the parent or other person named by them.
Exclusion
We follow guidelines as set out in the Guidance on Infection Control in Schools and other
Childcare settings (Health Protection Agency 2014). This provides details of common
infectious diseases and any recommended periods of exclusion from setting. Where staff are
infected with any disease, they are subject to the same exclusions as children.
The most common causes of exclusion are:
Infection/illness
Sickness and/or diarrhoea
Chicken pox
Impetigo
Conjunctivitis *
Exclusion period
48 hours after the last episode of either symptom
Until all spots have dried and formed a scab
Until lesions are crusted and healed, or 48 hours after
commencing antibiotic treatment
Until clear
* Conjunctivitis – guidance does not suggest that children be excluded, however
independent advice sought from medical professionals suggested that where children under
the age of 5 are infected, it is good practice to exclude to minimise the number of children
being infected.
Where a child has been prescribed antibiotics, they are considered too ill to attend setting for
at least 48 hours after the first dose of medication.
Where an unusually large number of children and/or staff are infected with a non-notifiable
disease (notably sickness and/or diarrhoea and chicken pox), we are encouraged to notify
the West Yorkshire Health Protection Duty Team on 0113 3860300 as soon as possible in
order for them to monitor local levels and take appropriate action.
Notifiable diseases
We follow guidelines as set out in the Communicable Disease Control Manual (Health
Protection Agency 2012).
Where a child or member of staff is diagnosed as suffering from a notifiable disease, the
diagnosing GP has a duty to inform the Health Protection Agency.
Where we are made aware of any child or member of staff being diagnosed as suffering
from a notifiable disease, we will as a matter of good practice inform the Health Protection
Agency. We are required under the Welfare Requirements of the EYFS to inform OFSTED.
Where two or more children cared for on the premises are affected by food poisoning, we
are required to inform the Health Protection Agency and OFSTED.
Exchange of Information with Parents
Parents are asked to inform us if their child is not attending due to ill health and to give
details of the illness. All absences due to illness are recorded in our ‘Child Sickness Record’.
This allows us to monitor potential outbreaks and take appropriate action e.g. to notify the
Health Protection Agency or to implement additional cleaning and hygiene routines.
Where it is known that a number of children are absent due to an infectious disease, notices
are displayed on parents notice boards in the Under Threes Unit and in the Wrappers room.
Parents are asked to notify us of any change in emergency contact details and telephone
numbers.