Nursery intimate care policy

At The University of Dundee Nursery Ltd we believe that all children need contact with familiar, consistent carers to ensure they can grow and develop socially and emotionally. At times children need to be cuddled, encouraged, held and offered physical reassurance.

Intimate care routines are essential throughout the day to meet children’s basic needs. This may include nappy changing, supporting children with toileting, changing clothes and giving first aid treatment and specialist medical support where required.

In order to maintain the child’s privacy, we will carry out the majority of these actions on a one-to-one basis, wherever possible, by the child’s key person with the exception of first aid treatment, which must be carried out by a qualified first aider. 

We wish to ensure the safety and welfare of children during intimate care routines and safeguard them against any potential harm as well as ensuring the staff member involved is fully supported and able to perform their duties safely and confidently. We aim to support all parties through the following actions:

• Promoting consistent and caring relationships through the key person system in the nursery and ensuring all parents understand how this works
• Ensuring all staff undertaking intimate care routines have suitable enhanced Disclosure Scotland or PVG checks in place
• Training all staff in the appropriate methods for intimate care routines and arranging specialist training where required, i.e. first aid training, specialist medical support
• Conducting thorough inductions for all new staff to ensure they are fully aware of all nursery procedures relating to intimate care routines
• Following up procedures through supervision meetings and appraisals to identify any areas for development or further training
• Working closely with parents on all aspects of the child’s care and education as laid out in the Parent and Carers as Partners Policy. This is essential for intimate care routines which require specialist training or support. If a child requires specific support the nursery will arrange a meeting with the parent to discover all the relevant information relating to this to enable the staff to care for the child fully and meet their individual needs
• Ensuring all staff have an up-to-date understanding of child protection and how to protect children from harm. This will include identifying signs and symptoms of abuse and how to raise these concerns as set out in the child protection policy
• Operating a whistleblowing policy to help raise any concerns about their peers or managers; and helping staff develop confidence in raising worries as they arise in order to safeguard the children in the nursery
• Conducting working practice observations on all aspects of nursery operations to ensure that procedures are working in practice and all children are supported fully by the staff. This includes intimate care routines
• Conducting regular risk assessments on all aspects of the nursery operation including intimate care and reviewing the safeguards in place. The nursery has assessed all the risks relating to intimate care routines and has placed appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the safety of all involved.

If any parent or member of staff has concerns or questions about intimate care procedures or individual routines, please see the manager at the earliest opportunity.