Intimate Care

Intimate care involves areas of personal care, which most people normally do for themselves but some are unable to do because of their stage of development, impairment or disability. We aim to provide intimate care to all children who require it, which acknowledges the responsibilities and protects the rights of everyone involved. We believe that children have the right to be treated with sensitivity and respect, and in such a way that their experience of intimate care is a positive one. We acknowledge that it is essential that every child is treated as an individual and that care is given as gently and as sensitively as possible. We also believe that children should be encouraged to have a positive image of their own body. We aim to provide guidance and reassurance to staff, and protect the rights and well being of children.

Procedure

We will liaise closely with parents/guardians of children with special needs to obtain as much information as possible in order to make the process of intimate care as comfortable as possible. We will endeavour to take all of their individual concerns into account. We are conscious that this is a sensitive issue and will ensure all of our staff are aware of our confidentiality policy. We believe that information on intimate care should only be communicated by sealed letter, personal contact or telephone between parents/guardians and the member of staff concerned.

We will ensure that all staff are familiar with the normal precautions for avoiding infection and that they are aware of our hygiene policy and procedure.

We will encourage our staff to take part in any appropriate training whether that be internal or external training, and we will endeavour to provide supervision and induction of all staff.

We will endeavour to ensure privacy appropriate to the child's age and situation when carrying out intimate care.

We will allow the child to care for themselves as far as they are able to, and encourage our staff to promote appropriate use of toilets and associated skills.

We will be aware of and responsive to the child's reactions, and provide reassurance whenever this is required.

It is not normally practical from the point of view of staffing resources, for there to be two members of staff involved in intimate care of one child, and also this will not assist the privacy of the child. We will, wherever possible though, advise our staff to inform another member of staff when they are going to undertake intimate care of a child. We will also ensure that all of our staff are aware of our child protection policy.

The above policy will be reviewed regularly and the procedure monitored and evaluated.