Using examples from my workplace there have been several incidents where this policy and its procedures have helped to promote health. For example all the children were playing in the garden and one child was consistently crashing into other children on purpose. This child was consistently told and warned not to crash into the other children and didn’t listen. As a result of this he fell off his bike and hit his head.
When all the children were brought up stairs a member of staff wrote it down in the incident book stating where and how the incident happened. This policy is very effective as it helps to promote the health of the child as there factual information recorded. If the member of staff was not to record the incident for reasons such as they forgot to write it down or didn’t think it was necessary or they was just simply to busy and forgot. There could be serious consequences regarding the child’s health for example the child may go home and complain they have a headache and may be put to sleep. This is very dangerous as the parent was unaware of the incident and especially when there is a knock to the head children should not go to sleep for at least 2 hours.
This policy is effective in this case as it allows the parent to be informed of the incident or any injuries. Its also effective in terms of there is documentation for staff to record any accident or incident that may occur. However the problem is not all staff may use it. To ensure this policy is promoted managers should regularly inform staff to ensure things are done accurately
According to my setting when an incident occurs,this has to be written within the incident book which the parent has to then sign when they
come to collect their child, again this makes the policy very effective as the parents are aware of the incdent that their child was in.
Collection Policy
Within care settings such as nurseries and schools, staff have a duty to under the Ofsted Day Care Standards to protect children and act in their best interests.
When events occur such as a child not being collected the manager should, make every effort to contact the child’s parent or carer. If the manger is unable to get in contact with the parent or carer they must try to get in touch with an alternative emergency contact, which has been authorized by the child’s parents/carer to collect them on their behalf. If staff have not been notified by parents/cares and are unable to contact any emergency contacts they have a responsibility to contact social services.
When in my placement I had witnessed an issued regarding collection. A friend of a parent had come to collect a child but the staff was not familiar with the family friend however the child was. As the staff saw that the child knew who the person was and was very comfortable with them, she allowed the child to leave with the family friend. This shows the collection policy is not effective.
Under no circumstances should a child should be handed over to an individual without the consent of a parent or carer as the child’s safety is at risk. According with my policy, there has to be factual evidence such as a letter with a signature of the parent or carer who is giving consent. This is very effective as it promotes the child’s health, safety and security as the child is not handed over to a stranger or someone who a parent or carer has forbidden. For example a couple may have just divorced and the mother has now has restricted the access of the father telling him he’s not allowed to pick up the child, but the father may choose to go against her wishes and collect the child. However there is an added problem with the effectiveness with the collection policy, as the parents are now divorced it’s the responsibility of the parent to inform staff about the situation. It is the parents’ responsibility to inform staff, in writing, of access arrangements
concerning their child. If a parent was not to comply with this policy and failed to inform the staff within the setting, staff are still permitted to allow the father to collect the child, therefore parents need to imply a court injunction to the care setting.
To ensure the collection policy is carried out effectively. Staff must be informed if parent/carer is unable to collect their child. There needs to be factual evidence provided for example parents or carers must write in a collection book and sign to confirm who will be collecting their child. It is essential that this is done every time someone other than the parent or care is going to collect a child.
Within my setting each child has their own personal password with their records. This promotes the security of the child as only the parents/carers know this password. However again there is a problem with the effectiveness as parents/carers may tell another person the password, as a result this makes the policy ineffective.
Medication policy
Throughout many care settings especially care homes and hospitals service users may need to be issued medicine if this is the case service users need too have their medicines prescribed by a medical practitioner. The greatest care needs to be taken to ensure that medicines are given according to the instructions. A signed record of all medication that is given out should be noted in the medicine book which should be witnessed by another member of staff.
In settings such as nursery’s and schools written consent from parents is required before any medication can be administered. This policy is effective as it promotes the health of individuals by ensuring that its safe for individuals to take the medicine they are given as consent has been provided.
When on work experience a parent had bought in medicine for her child she had to inform staff of when the last medication was given and how many times a day they should give it to her child. The parent had to then sign the medication book giving consent to the staff to give the child the medicine.
This shows that the policy was very effective as prescribed medication can only be distributed by staff if the parent has filled out and signed a medication book.
However this policy may not be very effective in terms not individuals not understanding the policy for example in a nursery care setting the nursery may accept medication that has not been prescribed or purchased in a chemist. This dose not promote the health of a child as the child may be in danger and could react to the medicine given and result to ill health
Safety and security policy
The health and safety of individuals is very important, this policy promotes the health and safety of individuals in the health and social care workplace as it protects individuals from any harm and regulates entry to the premises. Access to the premises should be controlled; this can be done in many ways either by a bell, security pads, security guards, intercoms and cctv. As security is a very important issue its essential that staff are aware of safety and security policies.
According to my work placement policy ‘The safety and security of the children and staff in the nursery is paramount’. Access to the outside entrance has an electric intercom system this enables staff to see who they are letting in to the nursery. The nursery is limited to staff and the parents of children in the nursery. The nursery entrance door is always electronically locked as it is controlled by a security pad. Parents are given a code to allow them access. This code given is changed periodically this policy is very effective as only the parents and staff are aware of the code this promotes the safety of both the staff and the children as no unauthorized person can have access to the premises. However this policy shows ineffectiveness as parents and staff may expose the code to other individuals as they may need access to the nursery. For example a parent may be unable to pick up their child and need someone to collect them, in order for them to gain access they will need to the code so they parent will have to then tell the person the code.
Care settings need to have a record of those entering the building this includes service users, staff and visitors, in care settings such as nurseries it’s important that partents sign their child in and out each
day, this promotes the health, safety and securty of individual staff are aware of who is in the buiding.espically in the event of an emergency.However the ineffecitness of this policy is visitors may not be imfomed that thay have to sing in and parent may be in a rusah and may forget.
When on my work placement I had witnessed an event where this policy promoted security. An agency who was working in the nursery had accidentally let a parent who was forbidden from the nursery in the building .As the parent was familiar with the system he knew the code to gain access to the nursery, unfortunately he was unable to gain access due to the fact that the code is regularly changed.
From this example it shows that this policy is very effective as the nursery staff and children were at risk from the unwanted parent but he was able to gain access. However this policy also shows ineffectiveness as if the code wasn’t changed the parent would have been able to gain access and everyone within the nursery would have been at risk.
