Health and Child Care Practitioner Essay

Keeping children healthy and safe is very important. To ensure children’s health, safety and wellbeing every home nations has sets of standards or welfare requirements which settings must meet. The standards vary from country to country, but they all exists in order to protect children. Child care practitioner need to be familiar with minimum Welfare requirements, Safeguarding children, Promoting welfare, Suitable people, Organisation, Premises, Environments, Equipment, Documentation . Section 1 –Quality of Care. Standard 1 – Safeguarding and child protection. The safeguarding of children is best promoted through: The regular review of policies and procedures, Access to approved training for all staff on safeguarding issues on a regular three-yearly basis , If all children are resting/sleeping on mats or low beds, it is acceptable that the staffing arrangements as per required ratios, do not have to be med but a minimum of two staff must remain with the group of children. It is also important in settings that providing group-based care that a member of staff have a designed responsibility for Safeguarding and child protection. Standard 4 – Health & Safety in the Setting. The section requires settings to ensure the relevant regulations and guidance are meet, registrations with their local Environmental Health Service and compliance with their guidance, reference is made to staff/child-minders being ‘’under the influence of any substance’’, this relates to alcohol or drugs, also reference is made in the Minimum Standards to valid fire-safety risk assessment , the risk assessment should be regularly reviewed and updated in line with Northern Ireland Fire Rescue Service Guidance. Facilities that have been registered for some years may hold a Fire Safety Certificate. Standard 5- Food and Drink. The social value of children eating is recognised. Whilst it is beneficial to have a separate dining room in a full day care settings, all settings are required to register with their local Environmental Health Service and comply with all guidance issued. Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate it should noted, the standards identifies the need for all setings to provide food and drinks for the four main food groups, for sessional care playgroups, creches and after school settings, it is acknowledged that they are not required to provide non-dairy sources of protein like meat, fish, eggs, beans Section 2- Quality of Staffing, Management &Leadership. Standard 11- Organisation of the Setting. In terms of addressing the requirements of this Standard, the following issues should be addressed: Staffing ratio, Absence of person in charge, Lead Time for applications for Managers in post, Existing Staff with qualifications, Existing Staff without qualifications, New staff without qualifications, Babies and toddlers, School aged children, Students in placement, Volunteers, Daily Registrations, Minimum number of staff available, Excursions school pick-ups, child-minders Mandatory Training , Arrangements for Emergencies, Child-minders with an assistant. Standard 12- Suitable Person. The term substantial access therefore does not refer to these employed to care for children in a child minding or day care setting, but anyone who has access to the children throughout the period of time in which care is provided and the register person. Vetting does not only refer to criminal record checks but includes medical references, employment and personal references and Social Services checks. Vetting will be carried out in line with the Regional Vetting Procedure. Section 3- Quality of Physical Environment. Standard 13- Equipment provided by all settings will be furniture, play equipment, must be sufficient and suitable for all ages. High chairs must have point harness, all outdoor play equipment must be safety secured in terms of safety, appropriate insurance cover must be held, it is also important that staff have access to comfortable seating which allow them to feed a bottle to or nurse an infant. . Section 4 –Ability of Monitoring and Evaluation Standard 15 Documentation. As all records, including those pertaining to children and staff, are accessible to the Trust’s Registration and Inspection staff, The reference to article 126 of the Children(NI) 1995 relates to the requirement to keep record of the name of: any child looked after on the register premises, any person who assist in looking after a child, any person who lives, or is likely at any time to be leaving , also providers should be aware that accidents may need to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive like work related, serious injuries, to staff or children , work related diseases , over three day injuries. Section 5- Policies and procedures. Trusts in their regulatory capacity, will wish to be satisfied that providers have the range of policies and procedures as outlined in this section, it is important that all policies and procedures including risk assessment are reviewed an annual basis . List of Policies as outlined in the Minimum Standards: Absence of the Manager, Accidents, Additional Needs, Complaints, Confidentiality, Consent, Data Protection, Equality, First aid, Infection prevention and control, Managing Emergences, Menu Planning, Mobile phones, Parents access to record, Participations, Provision for Food and drink , Security on the setting, Smoking. 1. 2 Explain the lines of reporting and responsibility within the work setting. When we are working with children it is important to understand the lines of reporting and responsibility. In some small settings the lines of reporting may be quite simple but, in a large setting certain member of the staff may be responsible for different areas. In my setting if in case of any accident, incident, illness or any other emergency I have to report to my teacher and then to others responsible, my setting also have Health and Safety officer, fire officer, child protection officer, safe guarding officer and a full qualified first aid for every stage. When an accident/ incident occurs at the setting we record it in our incident/ accident book which is kept in the office filing cabinet. .Some illnesses must be reported to the local health authority such like tuberculosis, mumps, meningitis. In my setting we have our emergency procedures displayed in every classroom, and the reception aria so all the staff, students or volunteers they will know where to report in case of any emergency. Legislation of Health and safety NI at work of order 1978 Employee responsibilities: Comply with health and safety policy and procedures, keep the safe working practise and use any or all safety equipment that is provided. Take care of yourself and the safety of others who may be affected by your actions. Employer responsibilities: Making the workplace safe and eliminate health risks is one of the many, providing adequate welfare facilities, ensure health and safety in work place ,provide training ,safety equipments ,understand the importance of regular risk assessment. 3. 1 Explain how to promote children’s health and well-being in a an early years work setting Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity. Health can be thought of a bit like a jigsaw puzzle as there are various components that need to come together in order to maintain good health and well-being both for children and adults. If one part is missing health is affected. Some of the components of health are : Nutrition, Health care, Hygiene, Play opportunities, Rest and sleep, Safe guarding and protection, Positive experience, Love and attention, Fresh air and lights, Diet, Physical activities, Medical care. Rest and sleep is an essential requirement for good health and development. Sleep appears to have many vital functions required to support a healthy immune system: aids the regulation of hormones and the processing of information by the brain. If a child is not sleeping enough this can have negative impact on the child health such as: Growth, Memory and learning, Illness, Behaviour and impulsivity. The sleep amount hours will vary, depends on the child age for example a child between 1-3 years may need to sleep between 12- 14 hours per day, also children in this age they need to nap in the afternoon , we have to make sure that the nap is not to long so the children can sleep during the night, another issue about sleeping is the safety , by making sure that there are no objects that my suffocate children, also the cot have to be comfortable, worm and clean , the rom temperature should be 18-21 not too cold, not too worm . Personal Hygiene is very important for everyone but especially for young children because good hygiene prevent possible infection, children need to be kept clean but also the environment they are living in, By teaching children how to wash hands correctly, how to brush their teeth or hair we can help young children understand the importance of a good hygiene. We can teach children how to maintain a god personal hygiene by playing games, through different activities such as painting or through singing/ puppet show but also through good role model. Immunisation is the use of vaccines to give immunity for a specific diseases, the vaccinations prevent children from getting ill but also some of the diseases can be contagious for other children and also for the staff . Love and attention is about children’s emotional well- being and is linked to their health. Babies and children can become depressed if they are not given sufficient attention. The attention the babies and young children will receive is from their parents but also from the childcare practitioner, this mean that children must have a key person who can establish a special relation with them so they feel loved and protected. Diet what children eat and drink has a pivotal effect on their health. The term balanced diet is often used in connection with the healthy eating. A balanced diet is one in which there are sufficient nutrients in right quantities for children and adults. The child care practitioner can promote a healthy diet by teaching children about healthy foods, the importance of healthy food. As an child care practitioner working with the early years I am in the unique position to influence the lives of the young children by promoting healthy living in the setting I work. I have to help children understand the importance of the healthy lifestyle 5. 1 Identify balanced meals and drinks for children in their early years, following current government guidance on nutritional needs. Just like adults young children need energy ( calories) from food and nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals, to make sure their bodies work properly and can repair themselves. At this age children grow very quickly and are usually very active, so they need plenty of calories and nutrients. A healthy and varied diet should provide all nutrients the child need. A well balanced diet is who will have: Milk and dairy foods, meat, fish, beans, and lentils , bread and other cereals such as rice , pasta , potatoes, breakfast cereals, fruit and vegetables, fruit juices and water.