Any healthcare plan should be drawn up in partnership between the school, parents, and a relevant healthcare professional, such as a school nurse, specialist or children's community nurse or paediatrician. €Pupils should also be involved whenever appropriate.€7

Among the various elements the plan should cover are:

·      the medical condition, its triggers, signs, symptoms and treatment;

·      the pupil's resulting needs, including medication (dose, side effects and storage) and other treatments

·      how much support the child will need

·      arrangements for written permission from parents and the head teacher for medication to be administered by a member of staff, or self-administered by the pupil during school hours.

Note that €if a child is self-managing their medication, this should be clearly stated with appropriate arrangements for monitoring.€

In addition, staff must have had appropriate training before giving the child a prescription medicine. While it is likely that written instructions from the parent or those on the medication container are sufficient, €ultimately this is for the school to decide, having taken into consideration the training requirements as specified in pupils' individual health care plans.€

In terms of managing medicines on school premises, the guidance goes into detail about consent, storage, acceptance of medicines onto school premises, disposal of equipment or unused medicines, and record keeping.

It suggests that €where clinically possible, medicines should be prescribed in dose frequencies which enable them to be taken outside school hours.€ Note that in addition, €schools should only accept prescribed medicines if these are in-date, labelled, provided in the original container as dispensed by a pharmacist and include instructions for administration, dosage and storage.€