Intimate Care Policy

At TARKA, children are treated with sensitivity, dignity, and respect. We aim to meet the needs of all our children and promote their welfare and development through acknowledging and assisting them with their personal and intimate care.

Personal care is defined as care tasks associated with ensuring a child’s wellbeing or welfare, but which do not involve contact with or exposure to intimate parts of the body. Examples of personal care at TARKA include providing physical or emotional assistance and supporting and supervising feeding or dressing. There are several activities broadly defined as potentially ‘invasive’ personal care that TARKA staff are not permitted to undertake, including cutting children’s nails or hair, checking for head lice and painting children’s fingernails.

Intimate care is defined as care involving tasks associated with personal hygiene, bodily functions and bodily products which demand direct or indirect contact with or exposure of intimate personal areas. Some children will need support because of their age, stage, ability or additional needs.

Clinical tasks are defined as intimate care at TARKA.  Examples of this include managing nasal-gastric tubes or feed pumps. If there is a need to fulfil clinical tasks, the persons responsible for delivering and supervising care must receive training from a health professional and be deemed competent before the task can be performed. In addition, care plans must be drawn up in line with TARKA’s medication and SEND policies. It is a requirement that a parent must inform us of this at least 48 hours before your child is due to attend a class.

Staff who are supporting children with personal and intimate care routines must have a sound knowledge and understanding of TARKA’s Safeguarding policies and follow these procedures so that the children within their care are protected. Managers must ensure that staff are trained and supported so that they are competent in their practice. All staff who perform intimate care duties must have under completed a full DBS check. Managers must ensure safe working practices are in place and regularly reviewed, including through risk assessment and practice observation.

TARKA has a duty of care under Health and Safety regulations to protect both children and adults when dealing with bodily fluids. Clear procedures must be outlined in order to protect all involved.

In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to restrain a child in order to protect the child or to safeguard others. Physical restraint should only be used as a last resort. Our approach to restraint is explained more fully in the TARKA’s Behaviour Management Policy. As part of our Personal and Intimate Care Policy is important that we consider how we hold a child if restraint is required and ensure that this is done in a child-sensitive and non-invasive manner.

Intimate Care

Intimate care routines are tasks associated with personal hygiene, bodily functions and bodily products which demand direct or indirect contact or exposure of intimate personal areas. Intimate care routines may comprise activities such as changing a child’s clothing when they have soiled or conducting clinical interventions such as nasal or gastric tubes.

During intimate care routines staff must consider and respect the dignity of the child and ensure that they are comfortable throughout the procedure. The environment where intimate care routines take place should be inviting and provide a place where the child feels relaxed, safe and secure. Considerations should be made to ensure that the environment is hygienic, welcoming and reflective of child centred practice.

Wherever possible the staff should ask the child’s permission to carry out the intimate care routine and ensure that the child is not distressed or in pain. The staff must sensitively meet the needs of the individual child balancing the need for privacy with robust safeguarding procedures and safe working practices.

Toileting procedure

Staff are responsible for supervising the toileting needs of young children. At TARKA we support children who go to the toilet.

We do not provide or encourage the use of potties, this eliminates the risk of cross infection and promotes good hygiene standards.

Nappies 

We do not provide or change nappies at TARKA. If a child is in a drop-off class with a nappy on, the parent is required to stay on site.

Clinical Interventions

A clinical intervention is where a child requires a medical treatment or process that has been authorised by an appropriate and recognised medical authority in the UK. This treatment includes temporary support for a medical condition as well as treatment for an ongoing health condition or disability.

In order to meet the individual needs of the child it is important that the management team work in partnership with both parents and medical professionals. Original medical documentation must be sort to confirm, outline and define the treatment before any treatment is agreed to or delivered. This will usually be in the form of an original letter or a formal Health Care Plan, provided by a health visitor or doctor. Training must be provided to ensure that all those involved in the supervision and implementation of the intervention are competent. It is a requirement that a parent must inform us of this at least 48 hours before your child is due to attend a class.