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IMMUNISATIONS!


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I have just had a show round for a 1 year old where the parents have told me that they are against immunisations....I just wondered if any other settings have come across this.

 

My concerns are obviously for the children and staff currently in nursery and also how this could impact on the child. I was going to speak to the child's GP/Health Visitor or the Health Protection Agency but I'm really unsure?

 

Any help please x

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I've had (in the past) and will have (after half-term) children from a family wholly against immunisations - this info was noted on Registration Form and filed - I didn't feel the need to contact anyone and I don't think that there was any impact on other children at pre-school.........

 

Sorry that sounds very 'confrontational' - promise it's not meant to be :1b

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We had a child last year - 100% organic and def. no immunisations. All other children were immunised so the risk was very much one sided and just to cover ourselves we made it quite clear to the parents of non-immunised one that other children (and their carers) may well have/carry infections and that their child could possibly contract something as a result. They were quite OK with this and if we have outbreaks of anything nasty (Threadworms already and it is only day 4 xD ) we put a notice out anyway.

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Now I totally agree with all that has been said before, but I will relate something which happened in our group.

 

We had a child whose father said she was not to have the MMR. Not a problem for us, they were not against immunisation, just the MMR (all well and good, but they could have got individual injections in my train of thought). I digress, sorry.

 

She first caught measles, and just as she had recovered from that within a few weeks caught mumps, one of the other children who had had the MMR also caught the mumps - when I questioned this with GP I was told that because the second child had not had their pre-school booster and was coming to the "end" of the protection afforded her, she was vulnerable to the mumps!

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Vaccination isn't guaranteed cover anyway.

In any group of children there will be a certain number (I don't know the percentage) for whom at least one immunisation hasn't worked and that child is still vulnerable to the disease. There will be others who have some cover but enough only to reduce the severity of an infection.

As you can't be sure that any one child has cover anyway I would ensure that the records clearly show the child's immunisation status, record any comments made by the parents about it at the time and leave it at that.

It's hard to think of children being unprotected against what could be such serious diseases but they will benefit to some extent from herd immunity and it is the right of the parents to make this decision on behalf of their own child.

 

I would make a point of informing all parents in writing if there is a case of Mumps, Measles, etc linked to the setting just to ensure that I was doing my bit to protect the child.

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As you can't be sure that any one child has cover anyway I would ensure that the records clearly show the child's immunisation status, record any comments made by the parents about it at the time and leave it at that.

 

We don't record immunisations, other than tetanus as a child may be injured whilst with us.

In what way is recording a child's immunisation status with regards to other illnesses helpful?

(Perhaps we should!)

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In what way is recording a child's immunisation status with regards to other illnesses helpful?

(Perhaps we should!)

I guess for the reasons stated above. A child who hasn't been immunised is more at risk to serious illnesses and the related complications than one who has been immunised. As we run group settings we need to know if there is a child whose health might be at risk. If there is more than one child who has not been immunised, there is obviously a chance that illnesses could spread.

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I asked this when I first started (registered and inspected by Social Services in those days) and she didn't know but said it was expected that I should record it so I did.

I have since realised that it is one of the first questions you are asked if a child is admitted to hospital so I've kept it recorded and up to date in case of sudden illness or accident.

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I have since realised that it is one of the first questions you are asked if a child is admitted to hospital so I've kept it recorded and up to date in case of sudden illness or accident.

 

 

 

We also record the children's NHS numbers as the (hopefully) one and only time I had to take a child to the GP in an emergency all the receptionist was interested in was the child's NHS number - not the fact that he wouldn't stop bleeding where he had snipped the skin between his fingers!

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We also record the children's NHS numbers as the (hopefully) one and only time I had to take a child to the GP in an emergency all the receptionist was interested in was the child's NHS number - not the fact that he wouldn't stop bleeding where he had snipped the skin between his fingers!

 

:o Goodness - that's not something that I do - has never even occurred to me :blink: right - perhaps I need to think about that then.......I do record information re their doctors practice........we are in the 'middle of nowhere' and families use varying docs...

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From the posts above I'm drawing the conclusion that the A&E would ask for 1. the child's GP's name and surgery 2. the child's NHS number and, if relevant, 3. the immunisations he/she has had. (?) I have apparently/possibly wrongly assumed all those would be irrelevant at the A&E, other than whether the child has had tetanus immunisation or not, as an emergency injection can be given. If the child is suddenly very ill and has to be taken by ambulance to the A&E, any immunisations would be irrelevant, wouldn't they, as they don't always give the protection intended? I will look into all this to make sure we do what is necessary for the children's welfare, but won't record things that are not.

Edited by Wildflowers
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I (vaguely) remember being told that we couldn't have them in the first aid kit - I don't know why though...

Looking up information about them it states that they don't contain latex but the package does. They are hypo-allergenic.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?66666UuZjcFSLXTtoXf658s6EVuQEcuZgVs6EVs6E666666--
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1051.aspx?CategoryID=72

Edited by Wildflowers
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We had something similar a couple of years ago he collapsed as it turned out because of a high temperature due to tonsillitis. When I rang for an ambulance they didn't ask any questions other than those pertinent to what was happening in the moment.

 

When the first responder, the ambulance crew and a motor bike responder turned up that's when the questions were eventually asked by which time mum and dad had arrived too that morning will never leave my memory!

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We were asked usual is she breathing, etc but then they did ask about immunisations and asked GP

This child was having a convulsion, turned out to be febrile but she was 3 not had one before

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