Tip
Flag symbol (⚑)
A flag symbol (⚑) indicates a criterion that applies to services which include a home or homes that have children receiving out-of-school care (as defined in the glossary) in the home while the licensed home-based ECE service is being provided.
Criterion HS217
All practicable steps are taken to ensure that children do not come into contact with any person (adult or child) on the premises who is suffering from a disease or condition likely to be passed on to children and likely to have a detrimental effect on them.
Specifically, any child who becomes unwell while attending the service or receiving out-of-school care is kept at a safe distance from other children (to minimise the spread of infection) and returned to the care of a parent or other person authorised to collect the child without delay.
⚑ Out-of-school care must not be provided to children who are absent from school due to illness.
Guidance
How to show you are complying
You must take steps to minimise the contact of children with any person who has an infectious illness. Infectious diseases spread from one person to another, through things like:
coughing or sneezing
touching someone or something contaminated
eating or drinking contaminated food or water
body secretions.
To make safe and informed decisions, you need to understand how diseases spread, their symptoms, how long they take to appear, and how long someone should stay away from the service.
You will find information on infectious illnesses provided by the National Public Health Service below.
Infectious illnesses A2 poster - English - HE1214 – HealthEd
When an infectious illness appears to be affecting many children or adults, you should contact the National Public Health Service in your region for information and advice.
National Public Health Service
What to do if children become ill while at your service
When a child becomes unwell while at a home that is not their own, it’s essential they are collected without delay to minimise the risk to others. If there are out-of-school care children in the home, a similar process is required so they can be isolated from other children and collected as soon as possible.
To enable timely contact, it is vital to have up-to-date contact information for the parents on children’s enrolment records.
If a child is unwell and cannot be collected immediately, the educator must keep them separated from others.
Engage the other children in an activity positioned as far away as practical, while still allowing the educator to supervise the unwell child.
If the educator is at the child’s home, the child may just want to be tucked into their usual bed.
The educator should monitor the child’s condition. If the child’s health appears to be deteriorating, seek medical attention. If they become seriously ill, obtain medical assistance immediately.
If you are not sure, but think the illness may be infectious, contact the National Public Health Service for information and advice.
Public Health ServicesThe child or adult should be excluded if they have an infectious illness as per National Public Health Service advice.
What happens if the educator becomes ill
If an educator is looking after children, they should notify the person responsible (Visiting teacher or Coordinator) so that the educator can be removed from contact with children.
It may be possible to offer an alternative educator/home in consultation with parents as an alternative. Educator unavailability and any alternative care arrangements will need to be documented to meet the requirements of the ECE Funding Handbook or sent home.
When assessing whether you comply with HS217
Questions we are likely to ask
What steps would you take to make sure that sick children are promptly returned to the care of a parent or an authorised person?
How have you communicated with parents regarding the collection of their child when they became unwell?
What steps would you take in response for any individual—adult or child—who has had an infectious disease?
What steps are taken to ensure children who become unwell while attending the service are kept at a safe distance from other children?
We are likely to look at, measure or count
Any records you keep for HS218 to determine what actions were taken for any person (adult or child) suffering from particular infectious disease.
The tools below are here to support you, but you do not have to use them. You can use other tools or methods that work better for your service.
Share information with families and staff
Infectious illnesses A2 poster - HE1214 – HealthEd
Infectious illnesses booklet - HE1215 – HealthEd
Trusted Voice On Children's Health – KidsHealth New Zealand
Guidance for policy development
Illness guidelines – Health New Zealand
Infectious diseases checklist [Word document, 71KB]
Preventing the spread of infectious diseases protects the health of all children and adults at your service.
Doing more than the minimum can shape better outcomes for children. Here are some ideas or examples you might like to consider.
You could develop a policy and procedure with parents/whānau about managing illness. This helps makes sure there is a shared understanding of what will happen if a child becomes unwell. It also supports staff in making informed decisions about excluding children due to infectious illness.
If you have a policy, it can outline circumstances when children must or should stay home, and the timeframe they need to stay away or can return. Children should stay home when they are generally unwell, such as when they:
show little interest in play or activities
have low energy and need extended rest or sleep
are unusually irritable, in pain, or cry easily
are clingy and constantly seek comfort
have a fever
a hacking cough which is unusual for the child
a green runny nose which indicates the child may have an infection.