Procedures for children who are sick or infectious including COVID-19
At the setting we will do our upmost to keep the environment clean and welcoming to all users. This will include regular cleaning, encouraging hand washing, adequate ventilation, wearing facemasks when required, and encouraging parents to ensure vaccinations are up to date. If a child or staff member is sick the following procedures will apply.
• Children and staff with symptoms of respiratory infection including Covid-19 and a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with others. They can come back to the setting when they have recovered.
• With regard to the Government’s ‘Living with Covid’ strategy - If a child or staff member tests positive for Covid-19 then adults should stay at home for 5 days and children (18 and under) for 3 days. If after this time the person is still unwell with a temperature, then they should continue to stay at home until they are better, seeking medical advice where needed.
• If children appear unwell during the day – have a temperature, sickness, diarrhoea or pains, particularly in the head or stomach – the play leader calls the parents and asks them to collect the child or send a known carer to collect on their behalf.
• If a child has a temperature, they are kept cool, by removing top clothing, sponging their heads with cool water, but kept away from draughts.
• The child’s temperature is taken using a digital thermometer kept near to the first aid box.
• If the child’s temperature does not go down and is worryingly high, then we may give them Calpol or another similar analgesic such as Nurofen, after first obtaining verbal consent from the parent where possible. This is to reduce the risk of febrile convulsions, particularly for babies. Parents sign the medication record when they collect their child.
• In extreme cases of emergency, the child should be taken to the nearest hospital and the parent informed.
• We can refuse admittance to children who have a temperature, sickness and diarrhoea or a contagious infection or disease.
• Where children have been prescribed antibiotics, parents are asked to keep them at home for 48 hours before returning to the setting.
• After diarrhoea, parents are asked to keep children home for 48 hours or until a formed stool is passed.
• Some activities, such as sand and water play, and self-serve snacks where there is a risk of cross-contamination may be suspended for the duration of any outbreak.
• The setting has a list of excludable diseases and current exclusion times. The full list is obtainable from www.hpa.org.uk/servlet/ContentServer?c=HPAweb_C&cid=1194947358374&pagename=HPAwebFile and includes common childhood illnesses such as measles.