Medication Policy

Rationale

Because keeping the children in our care safe is our top priority, Kindercare is committed to ensuring that all reasonable and practicable steps will be taken to ensure we protect the hauora (health) and marutau (safety) of all children in our care.

Policy Details

Oral medication is only to be measured and administered by an authorised employee. For the purposes of this policy, an authorised employee is someone who holds a current First Aid certificate. This must be documented on the Administration of Prescribed Medication form, for each room, and the certificate expiry date recorded in Infocare. Centre Administrators will update these forms regularly, but at least after each round of First Aid training, in March and September, annually.  In the absence of an authorised employee for a particular room, the Centre Director, or an authorised person from another room, must administer the medication.  All authorised employees must have read and signed the procedure outlined below.

There is always a safe place allocated for medication in the centre. This safe place must be a designated area that is out of reach of tamariki. All employees must be shown where this ‘safe place’ is as part of their orientation into the centre.

Note: First Aid certificates
First Aid certificates are ONLY current up to the date of expiry on the certificate. The 3-month grace period is only in place to give employees time to complete their Refresher/Revalidation training. Once the certificate has expired, employees are no longer authorised to measure or administer medication in the grace period.

​​​​​​​Procedure for Administering Medication:

1. Ensure the Daily Medication Checklist (1Place) or Medicine Chart (1Plce / paper copy) is filled out with the child's full, official name, details of medication specified and then signed by the parents.
2. Read the label carefully. The label must be printed in the English language.
3. Check the dosage to be given. Ensure there is a dosage on the bottle, and that it corresponds with what is written on the Daily Medication Checklist or Medicine Chart.
4. Check the time to be given.
5. Check the expiry date.
6. For any discrepancies between what the parent has written on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart and what is stipulated on the medication, please inform the Centre Director/Centre Supervisor and they will contact the parent to inform them of the discrepancies.
7. Because accuracy with the dosage is critical, always get another employee to check the dosage measured before it is administered.
8. An authorised employee will give the measured amount to the child immediately, to avoid being distracted or interrupted.
9. Authorised employees must sign the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart when medication has been given.
10. If for any reason medication has not been administered at the appropriate time, i.e. child was asleep or child has gone home etc., the employee needs to write the reason and sign the form so this is recorded.
11. Return medication to designated ‘safe place’ immediately.
12. When medication used at the centre is finished, empty medication bottles must be sent home with the child.
13. Check the correct medication is being sent home for that child at the end of the day, and on their final day of the week at Kindercare, or last thing on a Friday before the weekend. Ensure parents sign the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart when they collect the medication.
14. No medication – including creams/salves/lotions/ointments will be given or applied, to any part of the body, or to treat any symptoms, without first contacting the parents and obtaining daily written authorisation from them.
15. If there is no authorisation, the Centre Director or Centre Supervisor must be notified, and they will contact the parent, before treating any symptoms.
16. If parents are not able to come into the centre to sign the form, before the medication can be administered, they must provide authorisation in writing via an email to the centre, or a text message. A copy of this email/text must be kept in the child’s Infocare folder under ‘Notes’.
17. When the parent picks the child up at the end of their day, they are still required to then give signed authorisation on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart.
18. Prescription medication: Kindercare will only administer medication to a child if the child’s name is on the medication. If it is not the child’s name on the medication, inform the Centre Director/Centre Supervisor, who will contact the parent to notify them that we cannot administer medication prescribed to someone else, including medication prescribed for a sibling.
19. Non-prescription medication: check that the dosage and purpose of the medication specifies that it can be safely administered to children under the age of 5, and that the information on the medication corresponds with the information that the parent has written down on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart.
20. All medication to be administered should be in the original bottles/containers with the appropriate labelling. Medication in syringes, home containers or water bottles is not allowed and will not be administered to the child.
21. All medication is to be given to tamariki using a measuring cup or syringe. Medication will not be measured out at Kindercare and added to bottles or food. The only exception is when a child has specific medical needs that requires medication to be administered orally.
22. In instances where employees are aware that a child struggles to take medication, our team will ensure the child is taken to a calm environment with limited distractions, to ease the distress for the child.
23. It is not acceptable for parents to write ‘as needed or required’ on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart under “times to be given at Kindercare”. Parents must write a ‘specific time’ and/or ‘specific symptom’.
24. If medication is given in response to a specific symptom, the time it is administered must be recorded on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart.
25. In the absence of any symptoms at the time parents have specified that the medication is to be administered, an authorised employee must phone the parent to explain that the child has no symptoms and enquire as to whether the parents still want the medication administered.
26. If parents no longer want the medication administered, they must confirm in writing (email / text) that they have agreed no medication will be given at the specified time. This email/text must be kept on the child’s file in Infocare, under Notes, and recorded on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart.
27. When parents pick up their child at the end of the day, they must sign the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart confirming the action taken. If, however, we are unable to get hold of the parents, the centre will follow the original instructions and administer the medication, even if there are no symptoms.
28. Pamol: When parents request that Pamol be administered during the day, employees need to ask parents when the last dose of Pamol was given, prior to arriving at Kindercare. Parents also need to stipulate the time the next dose needs to be administered. This information is to be recorded on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart, which the parent must sign. For over-the-counter Pamol and/or cough medication, the dosage stipulated on the bottle must correspond with what the parent has written in the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart, otherwise we are unable to administer it. Kindercare will only administer it if a doctor has prescribed a dosage for a child that differs from that stated on the bottle.

Medication Suppositories

• In the best interests and safety of both tamariki, and our employees, if a parent requests or instructs a Kindercare employee to administer their child’s medication or supplement in the form of a suppository, this must be authorised by the Centre Director or Centre Supervisor.
• If a Kaiako is not comfortable administering a suppository, they have the right to choose not to do so.
• There must always be two employees present when a suppository is administered.
• This directive applies irrespective of the child’s medical/health condition, age, or stage of development.

Nutritional and herbal supplements

• Ensure the label is printed in the English language.
• An authorised Kindercare employee will only administer these when they are provided by the parent, exclusively for their child, to treat a specific condition or symptom.
• Parents must provide advance written authorisation by completing the Daily Medication Checklist/ Medicine Chart, including the purpose and dosage of the supplement.
• Supplements must be supplied to Kindercare in the original bottle/packaging. An authorised employee will check and add to water at a specific time e.g. morning tea, lunch or afternoon.
• Because of the health risks associated with water bottles, tamariki will not be allowed to walk around with a water bottle containing the supplement.
• If the supplement is for treatment of a long-term condition, Kindercare requires the parent to complete the Medicine Chart for Chronic Medication. This will be reviewed monthly.
• Use the appropriate measure.

Epi-pens, Asthma Inhalers, and other creams and emulsifiers for specific skin conditions

(Category ii Medication as per Ministry of Education Regulations)

• Parents’ written authorisation to administer the Epi-pen/Asthma inhaler must be obtained monthly (See Medicine Chart for Chronic Medication).
• Check that the expiry date of the Epi-pen/Asthma Inhaler has been recorded on the Chronic Medication Chart.
• Ensure that employees have current training in the use of the Epi-pen, asthma inhaler etc. and that these employees with the training are named on the Chronic Medication Chart
• An Asthma inhaler and Epi-pen is only to be administered by an authorised employee. This applies to other medical conditions requiring specific treatment e.g. diabetes and administering insulin – which can only be done by an authorised employee, trained in the specific administration of this.
• For other medical conditions with ongoing needs including eczema, or other skin conditions requiring emulsifiers, this needs to be recorded on the Chronic Medication Chart which is signed by the parents.
• If medication is ingested, parents need to sign the Chronic Medication Chart daily, and a Kindercare employee must sign the time, and the dosage given to the child.
• For any medications and medical conditions recorded on the Chronic Medication chart, parents must sign this on a monthly basis to confirm usage and dosage.
• Should the frequency and dosage of any medication on the Chronic Medication chart change from what is recorded, even for a short period of time, the change in dosage and frequency must be recorded daily on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart during that time period.
• Parents must also sign and date the Daily Medication Checklist/Medication Chart daily, over this time. For example: if a child who usually requires an asthma inhaler once a day (as per the Chronic Medication chart) is particularly unwell for a time and requires the inhaler hourly, this change in frequency must be recorded on the Daily Medication Checklist/Medicine Chart and signed by the parents on a daily basis.

Appendix: Categories of medicine for criterion HS122

Category (i) Medicines

Definition: A prescription (such as antibiotics, eye or ear drops and so on) or non-prescription (such as paracetamol liquid, cough syrup and so on) medicine that is:

• issued for a specific period of time to treat a specific condition or symptom and
• provided by a parent for the use of that child only or, in relation to rongoā Māori (Māori plant medicines), that is prepared by other adults at the service.

Authorisation is provided from a parent at the beginning of the period medicine is intended to be administered, detailing:

• what (name of medicine),
• how (method and dose), and
• when (time or specific symptoms/circumstances).
• The authorisation must be renewed if the period is extended or circumstances change. Each day the medicine is given, parents acknowledge this was administered to their child. Parental acknowledgement is recorded.

Category (ii) medicines

Definition: A prescription (such as asthma inhalers, epilepsy medication and so on) or non-prescription (such as antihistamine syrup, lanolin cream and so on) medicine that is:

• used for the ongoing treatment of a pre-diagnosed condition (such as asthma, epilepsy, allergic reaction, diabetes, eczema and so on), and
• provided by a parent for the use of that child only.

Authorisation is provided from a parent at enrolment as part of an individual health plan detailing:

• what (name of medicine)
• how (method and dose), and
• when (time or specific symptoms or circumstances).

The authorisation to administer medicine is checked and updated monthly, or whenever there is a change to the child's medication.

Last Review Date: March 2026