what is duty of care?

[butterfly]

What is 'duty of care' and what does it mean for us as childminders?

i can't get my head round it this morning!

i'm thinking along the lines of everything we do to keep children safe?

[Hebs]

not caring for a sick child to protect others
noting and informing the relevant people of any concerns you have about a child
in general keeping the kids safe from harm/illness/discrimination


i think

[Greengrass74]

This is a massive subject and sometimes confusing subject. First the legal definition.

A duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseably harm others.

For us childminders it basicly means we have a duty of care to protect the child in our care from significant harm, this will be achieved using the standards that we all learn from the many courses etc that we attend. Also all your risk assessments, policies, daily checks, who to contact should you suspect the child may be at risk etc are proof that you are carry out your duty of care.

Hope this helps

Dave

[froggynoddy]

not caring for a sick child to protect othersnoting and informing the relevant people of any concerns you have about a child
in general keeping the kids safe from harm/illness/discrimination


i think

Hello there, new to the forum as a parent. I have an issue concerning the bolded section of your post. Do you have an authoratitive source on the issue relating to caring for a sick child (chickenpox + hand, foot and mouth in my child's case) when you are caring for other children (and therefore putting them at serious risk of infection)?

Would the childminder have to notify the parents, outright refuse to care for my child, should I still pay (my childminder is on a 4 day per week retainer)? I am not too fussed on the latter point but I dont want to get her into trouble with the other parents (and OFSTED).

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

[hectors house]

Childminders generally follow advice from the Health Authority - you don't need to exclude for Hand, foot and mouth but some childminders state in their policies that they will do and that is their personal choice, with chicken pox the normal exclusion advice given is 5 days from onset of rash - I generally ask the other parents if they mind the infected child coming back sooner as if they have been in close contact with infected child before rash appeared they are likely to be contagious as well, so may as well get it over with. But will follow guidelines if not all parents agree.

In both cases it would depend on the actual health and happiness of the child too, a child with huge mouth ulcers who was unable to eat or swallow or one with terribly itchy spots and a temperature would rather be at home as childminders have to continue with routines of other children whether it being attending toddler groups, school runs or trips out.

And yes if your childminder is saying your child cannot come with these viruses, she is within her rights to do this and you will be expected to pay whatever the contract says about occasionally days off/sickness.

Hope your child feels better soon

[JCrakers]

Hello there, new to the forum as a parent. I have an issue concerning the bolded section of your post. Do you have an authoratitive source on the issue relating to caring for a sick child (chickenpox + hand, foot and mouth in my child's case) when you are caring for other children (and therefore putting them at serious risk of infection)?

Would the childminder have to notify the parents, outright refuse to care for my child, should I still pay (my childminder is on a 4 day per week retainer)? I am not too fussed on the latter point but I dont want to get her into trouble with the other parents (and OFSTED).

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help.

Childminders have policies (or should have) In my policies it states exclusions for illness. These are given to parents when they start
We have a responsibility to keep the children healthy so we have to exclude for illnesses. We get info and guidelines from hpa. We also have to keep ourselves fit and healthy so accepting children with illnesses would mean the childminder gets ill and has to have days off, affecting all the other parents.
My chicken pox exclusion is 5days from onset of rash and hand foot and mouth is no exclusion. I've had 1 child who had hand foot and mouth but he was quite poorly with it so Mum kept him at home as he wasn't up to getting out of bed.

Ofsted also need to see children being kept healthy so exclusion for illness is very important. Chicken pox is usually caught before the rash comes out though and is quite a common children's illness so if for instance everyone has had it in the setting then the childminder may decide that the child can attend.

[froggynoddy]

Childminders have policies (or should have) In my policies it states exclusions for illness. These are given to parents when they start
We have a responsibility to keep the children healthy so we have to exclude for illnesses. We get info and guidelines from hpa. We also have to keep ourselves fit and healthy so accepting children with illnesses would mean the childminder gets ill and has to have days off, affecting all the other parents.
My chicken pox exclusion is 5days from onset of rash and hand foot and mouth is no exclusion. I've had 1 child who had hand foot and mouth but he was quite poorly with it so Mum kept him at home as he wasn't up to getting out of bed.

Ofsted also need to see children being kept healthy so exclusion for illness is very important. Chicken pox is usually caught before the rash comes out though and is quite a common children's illness so if for instance everyone has had it in the setting then the childminder may decide that the child can attend.

Thanks to you and 'Hector's House' for your speedy and succinct responses, that makes a lot of sense to me and has been of great help. Thank you also for your kind wishes.

Kind regards,

froggynodddy