Children in Care (Hansard, 22 July 1999)

§ Mr. Hutton

Whenever possible, children placed in local authority care should be given a medical examination and a written health assessment before they are placed. A child should then be medically examined every six months up to the age of two, and at least every twelve months thereafter. Once assessed, the medical needs of children in local authority care should be set out in the general care plan for each child. Children would be registered with a general practitioner and any necessary medical treatment and drug prescribing would be carried out under the supervision and guidance of the child's general practitioner or, if a child is in a hospital, under the supervision and guidance of the appropriate hospital medical staff.

Details have to be kept of all medicinal products administered to children placed in a residential home, and by whom they are administered. This must be recorded in writing on each occasion in a central record and on the child's individual record. Where a medicinal product may not be safely self-administered by a child it should be undertaken only by a member of staff of the home or by a doctor or nurse. Children aged 16 and over are in general entrusted with the retention and administration of their own medication, and should be provided with a secure place to keep medication.

Children of 16 and 17 are entitled to consent on their own behalf to medical treatment, as are those under 16 who have sufficient understanding of what is proposed. Where a child is subject to a care order, the local authority acquires parental responsibility for the child and may consent to treatment on behalf of the child, including in circumstances where the child's parent has refused to consent.