NQS

QA2

2.2.1

Supervision – At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervision ensure children are protected from harm and hazard.

 

National
Regulations

 

Regs	92	Medication record
	93	Administration of medication
	99	Children leaving the education and care service
	102	Authorisation for excursions
	102D	Authorisation for service to transport children
	160	Child enrolment records to  be kept by approved provider
	161	Authorisations to be kept in enrolment record
	168	Education and care services must have policies and procedures

 

Aim

Our service aims to provide clear and
transparent policies and procedures for authorisations. This helps staff and
parents understand exactly what they need to do.

 

Related Policies
Administration of Medication Policy

Enrolment Policy

Excursion Policy

Photography
Policy

Privacy and
Confidentiality Policy

Social Media
Policy

Implementation

To ensure children’s health and safety, and
comply with the requirements of the National Law and Regulations and our
policies and procedures, we will only allow the following activities to occur
in respect of individual children if they are properly authorised in writing
and dated:

·       
Administration of medication(which includes
over-the-counter and therapeutic goods under the Therapeutic Goods Act
1989  like Panadol, sunscreen, nappy
cream and insect repellent)

·       
Administration of medical treatment,
dental treatment, general first aid products and ambulance transportation
(required in enrolment records)

·       
Excursions
including regular outings

·       
Transportation
including regular transportation

·       
Taking of children’s photographs

·       
Posting of children’s photographs on the service
social media account

·       
Collection of children by people other than
parents eg  child

o   leaves
in accordance with written authorisation of a parent or authorised nominee

o     is
given into care of a person or taken outside the premises for urgent medical
treatment or because of another emergency

·       
Disclosure of a child’s personal information
where this is not legally required or families would not expect the disclosure

 

Written authorisations will contain all
information required under the National Regulations and service policies – please
see specific policies for more details.

 

Our service will accept verbal
authorisations in the following situations:

·       
there is a medical emergency (authorisations are
not required for asthma and anaphylactic emergencies)

·       
parents or authorised nominees are unable to
collect a child before the service closes and authorise an alternate person to
collect the child

 

Whenever a person not known to educators is
authorised verbally or in writing to collect the child, they must be adequately
identified by educators before the child is released. See Delivery and
Collection of Children Policy for more information.

 

 

Over-the-Counter Pain Relief Medication eg Panadol

We do not accept written or verbal
authorisations to administer Over-the-Counter pain relief medication like
Panadol, Nurofen, Ibuprofen and paracetamol unless it has been prescribed by a
medical practitioner, or authorised verbally in an emergency as outlined above.
Pain relief medication may mask the symptoms of serious illnesses and our
educators are not qualified medical professionals. 

 

 

Refusing
Authorisations

Staff will refuse an authorisation if it
unreasonably risks the child’s safety, is not in line with our policies and
procedures or is fraudulent. For example staff will refuse an authorisation in
the following situations:

·       
the authorisation is not (or does not appear to
be) made by an authorised person

·       
the authorisation does not comply with aspects
of our policies and procedures eg medication is not in the original container,
does not have the child’s name on it, has expired, has an illegible label or
the authorised dosage does not match the doctor’s instructions

·       
an authorised nominee, or person authorised by a
parent or authorised nominee, does not 
appear to be capable of safely collecting the child (Delivery and
Collection of Children Policy)

 

For transparency and accuracy, if staff
refuse an authorisation they will record the following information in the
child’s file:

·       
the details of the authorisation

·       
why the authorisation was refused

·       
actions taken eg parent asked to supply
medication in original container

 

Source

Education and
Care Services National Law and Regulations

National
Quality Standard

Review

The policy will be
reviewed annually