Primary Medical Diets Policy
This policy sets out the approach and provision for primary schools to manage
Medical Diets in Flintshire in partnership with NEWydd Catering and Cleaning Ltd.
All staff should have access to this policy and sign to the effect that they have read and understood its contents.
| Date first implemented | November 2022 |
| Date of last amendment | November 2022 |
| Version | 1 |
| Date of next review | November 2023 |
| Policy owner for review | Learning Advisor, Health Wellbeing & Safeguarding |
| Date policy approved | This policy was approved by the Governing Body on: November 2022 |
| Review frequency | This policy will be reviewed annually by the Governing Body or if any amendments occur in legislation or in consideration of changes in working practices |
| Review date | November 2024 |
| Chair of Governors | Neil Cottrell |
| Head teacher
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Nicola Cooper (Headteacher) |
| Contents
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1. Overview |
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1. Overview
- Scope
This Medical Diet Policy defines NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd. (NEWydd) practice in the delivery of safe school meals for Golftyn CP School.
It does not include diets required for religious, cultural or personal requirements / preferences and dietary trials or elimination diets.
- Introduction
2.1 Definitions
What is a medical diet? A medical diet is defined as being a medically prescribed therapeutic diet as a treatment for a medical condition, including learners with food allergies or food intolerances. It does not include diets required for religious, cultural or personal requirements/preferences and dietary trials or elimination diets.
What is food intolerance? Food intolerance is a reaction to food that causes unpleasant symptoms. When someone is sensitive to a food in this way, they will react every time they come into contact with it.
What is food allergy? Food allergy is a particular type of food intolerance that involves the immune system. When someone has a food allergy, their immune system reacts to a particular food as if it is harmful. Chemicals are released in the body, especially histamine, and this is what causes the symptoms of the food allergy.
What is food aversion? Food aversion is when someone reacts to a food because of personal dislike. The symptoms can be quite similar to those of food intolerance, but this only happens when the person knows they have eaten the food.
What is Anaphylaxis? Anaphylaxis is an extreme and severe allergic reaction. The whole body is affected, often within minutes of exposure to the allergen but sometimes after hours. Anaphylaxis will require immediate medical attention. It usually occurs within seconds or minutes of exposure to a certain food or substance but, on rare occasions, may happen after a few hours.
Symptoms of an Allergic Reaction
Anaphylaxis is the most severe reaction with a dramatic fall in blood pressure and the patient loses consciousness. Other symptoms of an allergic reaction can also be life threatening. There may be swelling in the throat or severe asthma. Less severe symptoms may include tingling or itching in the mouth, hives anywhere on the body, generalised flushing of the skin or abdominal cramps and nausea. Mild symptoms should be watched carefully as they may develop into a more serious reaction. A severe reaction is treated with an injection of adrenalin. Certain foods including nuts, particularly peanuts, seeds, and shellfish are considered to be higher risk foods for causing an allergic reaction.
2.2 Allergens
Under the EU Provision of Food Information to Consumers Regulation, it is a legal requirement for all food operators to provide allergen information for 14 allergens for all foods, including foods served without packaging. NEWydd complies fully with the requirements of the regulation and can provide information on the presence or absence of the 14 allergens (Appendix 1) in each dish served. For the legislation in full visit; https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/contents
NEWydd do not use whole nuts, seeds or shellfish in their school meals.
2.3 Exclusions
- NEWydd are unable to provide medical diets for food allergies that fall outside of the list in Appendix 1.
- NEWydd reserve the right to refuse to provide a meal if it is deemed to be too complex or high risk to safely manage at site level. Please see Appendix 2 for a list of Food allergies that are excluded from the medical diet process.
- NEWydd does not offer a medical diet service for any learners on medical dietary trials or elimination trials, only for diagnosed medical diets with supporting evidence.
- Aims & Objectives
3.1 Aims:
NEWydd are committed to reducing the risk to learners with regards to the provision of food and the consumption of allergens in the food which could lead to an allergic reaction.
NEWydd are committed to providing a variety of special diets and believe working in partnership is the optimum way to promote health and accommodate medical dietary requirements.
3.2 Objectives:
- Reduce the likelihood of learners consuming food allergens that could lead to an allergic reaction.
- Obtain medical diet information from learners with food allergies/require a special diet and that could lead to allergic reaction.
- Provide bespoke menus upon request to enable all learners to safely enjoy NEWydd school meals.
- Roles & Responsibilities
4.1 NEWydd will:
- Comply with all relevant legislation and operate lawfully
- Raise awareness among all staff of the medical diets policy
- Ensure all staff identify and manage the risk of food allergens safely
- Ensure risk assessments for each school are in place and updated regularly
- Ensure all staff receive training appropriate to their role
- Consult healthcare professionals, and the local authority as required.
4.2 Golftyn CP school will:
- Collect medical diet information of learners with food allergies and intolerances.
- Share information with NEWydd.
- Provide details of medical diets in advance of a new term with sufficient notice
- Keep allergen information up-to-date throughout the year and ensure the catering team always has the most current information.
- Ensure communication between parents and NEWydd involves the school at every step.
- Ensure there is a clear procedure for managing emergencies
- Ensure sure staff are suitably trained for their role and training is kept up to date.
4.3 Parents / Carers will:
- Inform the school of their child’s food allergy/intolerance prior to the beginning of the school term (or as soon as possible) after diagnosis or symptoms.
- Be prepared to meet with a representative from the catering team to discuss their child’s needs (if needed).
- Provide medical evidence of the food allergy/intolerance
- Provide photographs of their child to aid identification method.
- Ensure communication is with both the school and NEWydd throughout the process
- Provide the school with the information required in a timely manner
- Should their child’s allergy/intolerance change, submit revised medical evidence to the school with the most recent information on Appendix 4. Where a child no longer requires a medical diet/support, parents / carers are required to notify the school in writing.
- To provide relevant in-date prescriptions, correctly labelled, with written dosage and administration instructions (if required)
- Ensure a nominated adult is contactable at all times and all necessary forms are completed and signed.
4.4 Learners will:
- Inform a parent / carer or staff member/s if feeling unwell
- Inform relevant staff member/s of any medication or healthcare needs, or changes
- Take care when carrying prescription medicines to and from school, and not sharing with others
- Participate in discussions around sharing/confidentiality of personal information
- Where appropriate, learners should be encouraged and enabled to manage their own medical diet needs.
- Medical Diet Procedure (Primary Schools)
5.1 Procedure
Prior to any learner with a medical diet being served a school meal, the following process must be followed:
- The parent / carer to contact the school to request a medical diet for their child.
- The school to provide the NEWydd Medical Diet form (Appendix 3) to the parent / carer.
- The parent / carer to complete the form, provide 2 recent photos of the child and a copy of the written medical evidence** from the hospital medical consultant and/or paediatric dietitian. This must confirm details of the diagnosis and the required diet.
- The parent / carer to provide this completed information to the school. The school will share the information with the Cook/Site Supervisor.
- NEWydd to acknowledge receipt of the completed medical diet request form (Appendix 3) with supporting medical evidence within 5 working days to the school. If there are any concerns arising from the information, NEWydd will discuss this with the school and parent/ carer at this stage.
- NEWydd will provide a copy of the allergen matrix for all products on offer, from which a suitable medical menu will be devised. The medical menu will be put into a medical menu template, which will also identify the learners name and allergen needs.
- Parents / carers must review and sign the medical diet for their child. A signed copy of the agreed medical diet should be returned to NEWydd. The parent should also keep a copy.
- The parent / carer must date and sign the medical diet template prior to the commencement date
- The commencement date for the medical diet is to be agreed with all parties and confirmed by NEWydd to the school. The school must confirm with the parent / carer the commencement date.
- A packed lunch should be provided by the parent / carer until a commencement date for a special medical diet is confirmed.
NEWydd is unable to provide a meal until the medical diet procedure has been completed and all required information has been received. The medical diet procedure must be completed for each learner with a dietary requirement and renewed for the learner each academic year.
Partially completed forms or missing supporting information (i.e. medical evidence) will be returned to the school, who will be responsible for chasing the parent / carer for the missing information.
**Medical evidence – must be dated within 12 months of the medical diet request from a medical consultant / paediatric dietitian. NEWydd will not hold medical diet evidence, following receipt. Only the learner’s name, school details and detail of the required medical diet template will be included on NEWydd records.
5.2 Menu Development
- Any proposed medical diet will be based on the school’s 3-week menu cycle.
- Theme days, street food dishes and items from the salad bar area are not suitable for medical diets unless agreed as part of the menu planning process.
- The medical diets encompass all variations of specific food allergies. For example, the egg free template is used for all learners with egg allergy and excludes both cooked and raw egg.
- Service of Medical Diets in Primary schools
- Photographs of learners with special medical diets are displayed in the kitchen area on the medical diet photo board, to ensure that NEWydd staff can identify learners with special medical diet requirements and ensure that the correct menu items are served.
- Family service- Dining room supervisor must be aware of any learner requiring a medical diet and liaise with the cook to ensure that the correct meal is served to the learner
- Medical diet meals transported to other schools- Meals must be clearly labelled with the Dietary meal. Meals must be sealed to ensure that they cannot come into contact with any other foods. On site NEWydd staff must identify the Special Medical Diet meal has arrived.
- Where NEWydd do not serve, the school must identify delivery of medical diet meals and follow agreed local procedure to ensure that the named meal is served to the correct learner.
- Once the correct meal has been served to a learner, it is the lunchtime supervisor’s/school’s responsibility to ensure the child eats the appropriate meal.
5.4 Review
When parents / carers are notified of a change to their child’s medical dietary needs, they are requested to complete a Medical Diet Review Form (Appendix 4). This is to ensure that NEWydd are up to date with any food allergens have been removed or added to their child’s medical needs and a review of their existing medical diet can be undertaken by NEWydd.
Medical diets will be reviewed annually in order to ensure that children do not continue to receive a restricted diet unnecessarily.
NEWydd will not provide medical diets for complex medical needs deemed to be too complex or high risk to manage at site level and will be referred back to the Parent / Carer. In these cases, it may be that the only appropriate solution is a packed lunch to be brought in from home.
5.5 Breakfast & After school clubs / Foods served other than Lunch
The school provides medical diet templates for learners with medical/special dietary requirements.
The templates will only be produced when it is confirmed (via the electronic form on the website) that a learner requiring a medical diet will be attending breakfast clubs. Due to the limited range of foods on offer at breakfast, it may not always be possible to provide a meal for learners with complex dietary requirements.
Please see GASC policy for After school club policies.
5.6 Prescription Foods
Parents / carers of children with prescriptions for special dietary products may bring these items into school for use in the kitchen, in consultation with the NEWydd catering team.
Foods must be labelled clearly with the name of the learner and the date that it was issued (must be in- date). The date the prescription was brought into school should be recorded. Special dietary products must only be used for the named child, and not for any other child. Storage instructions must be followed by NEWydd kitchen staff i.e. temperature control, conditions and shelf life. Special dietary products must be stored so that no cross contamination can occur with other food products, for example, in a clearly labelled sealed container. The original packaging must be retained.
- Managing Risk
- Risk Assessment
A risk-based assessment is undertaken at Golftyn CP School to identify control points as in line with Food Cross Contamination. The risk assessment is based on the following criteria:
- persons at risk (type of allergy or medical diet)
- supply chain (procurement and ordering)
- delivery of foods (mitigating cross contamination)
- receipt and acceptance of foods (training on key wording and identify known allergens)
- storage of food (segregation of allergen products from non-allergenic products)
- preparation of foods (segregation and sanitizing)
- transportation of foods (on site)
- service of foods (segregation of high risk foods from low risk)
It is the responsibility of NEWydd to review the schools risk assessment on an annual basis.
6.2 Insurance Arrangements
The Governing Body of Golftyn CP school will ensure an appropriate level of insurance is in place to cover the school’s activities in supporting learners with healthcare needs including medical diets.
The package of Insurance Covers purchased via the Flintshire County Council Risk and Insurance Team will provide suitable coverage for standard school activities. Additional cover may need to be arranged for some activities, e.g. off-site activities for learners with particular needs. For further information contact the Insurance Officer on (01352) 702242.
- Emergency Procedures
At Golftyn CP School the member of staff responsible for Emergency Procedures is the headteacher.
In situations requiring emergency assistance, 999 should be called immediately. The location of learners’ healthcare records and emergency contact details should be known to staff.
Where a learner has an Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP), this should clearly define what constitutes an emergency and explain what to do. Staff should be made aware of emergency symptoms and procedures.
Other learners in the school should also know what to do in general terms in an emergency, such as to inform a member of staff immediately. If a learner needs to be taken to hospital, a staff member should stay with the learner until a parent arrives. This includes accompanying them in an ambulance to hospital. The member of staff should have details of any known healthcare needs and medication.
7.1 Training
The Governing body must ensure staff who volunteer or who are contracted to support those with healthcare needs including medical diets, are provided with appropriate training.
5 members of staff have received emergency first aid at work training.
3 members of staff have received emergency first aid / paediatric first aid.
1 member of staff have received HSE First Aid for Forest school practitioners
INSET days /staff meetings are used to train staff, e.g. Allergy awareness training, how to use an epi-pen, Emergency First Aid.
Golftyn CP school will ensure records of all training undertaken by staff will be maintained which include the following details: date and name of training, trainer, staff attended and any certification. Training must be kept up-to-date.
All staff, irrespective of whether they have volunteered to assist or support learners with healthcare needs, may come into contact with learners who have healthcare needs including medical diets. It is therefore advisable that all staff have a basic understanding of common conditions to ensure recognition of symptoms and understand where to seek appropriate assistance.
All staff at Golftyn CP school will be made aware of learners with healthcare needs and medical diets during staff meetings.
New and temporary staff should especially be made aware of what preventative and emergency measures are in place so staff can recognise the need for intervention and react quickly.
- Equality and Diversity
As an employer and provider of services Golftyn CP school will not unlawfully discriminate on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or on the grounds of Welsh Language.
All learners, parents and careers are valued and will be treated with dignity and respect. Golftyn CP School will not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment or victimisation.
We will work with our school community to ensure our commitment to equality and fairness is shared and take steps to ensure that our services are accessible, welcoming and inclusive.
- Complaint Procedure
If a learner or parent /carer is not satisfied with Golftyn CP school’s health care arrangements they are entitled to make a complaint. Please refer to the Complaints Policy for further information
- Monitoring and Review
The Special Diets Policy and Food Allergen Policy Statement shall be reviewed on an annual basis or as circumstances dictate with regards to best practice and legal requirements.
- Appendices
- 14 Food Allergens Prescribed within the Food Information Regulations
- Exclusion list
- Learner Medical Diet Request Form
- Medical Diet Change to Personal Details Form
- Summary of all special diets provided by NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd
Appendix 1
14 Food Allergens Prescribed within
The Food Information Regulations
| Cereals containing gluten: namely wheat (including specific varieties like spelt and Khorasan), rye, barley, oats and their hybridised strains) and products thereof | |
| Crustaceans and products thereof (for example prawns, lobster, crabs and crayfish) | |
| Egg and products thereof | |
| Fish and products thereof | |
| Peanut and products thereof | |
| Soybeans and products thereof | |
| Milk and products thereof (including lactose) | |
| Nuts namely almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan nut, Brazil nut, pistachio nut and Macadamia nut (Queensland nut) and products thereof | |
| Celery and products thereof | |
| Mustard and products thereof | |
| Sesame seeds and products thereof | |
| Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at concentrations of more than 10mg/kg or 10mg/L in terms of the total SO2 which are to be calculated for products as proposed ready for consumption or as reconstituted according to the instructions of the manufacturers) | |
| Lupin and products thereof | |
| Molluscs and products thereof (for example clams, oysters, scallops, snails and squid) |
Appendix 2
NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd
Exclusion list for Medical diets
The following Exclusion diets cannot be safely catered for in a school environment
- Onion
- Garlic
- Tomato (with the exception of raw tomato)
- Potato
- Fructose
- E-numbers and additives (with the exception of artificial colours, please note that NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd do not knowingly use ingredients containing undesirable additives)
- Herbs
- Spices
- ‘Seeds’ – unless the type of seed is specified
- Salicylates
- Low FODMAP
- Citric Acid
- Benzoates and cinnamon
- Legumes- unless the variety is specified
- Yeast
- Derivatives of corn
- ‘Beans’- unless the variety of bean is specified
Appendix 3
| Learner Medical Diet Request Form | |
| Learner Name: | Learner Date of Birth: |
| Address:
Postcode: |
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| Parent/Carers Name: | |
| Contact Telephone Number: | Email Address: |
| School Name and Address: | |
| Brief outline of learner’s food allergy/Intolerance (as per medical letter):
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| Have you included medical evidence? YES ( ) NO ( )
Without a copy of medical evidence in the form of a Dietitian or Paediatric Consultant letter, detailing your child’s food allergy/intolerance, we will not be able to provide your child with a medical diet. |
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Parental Consent to Data Processing
The personal data about your child contained within this form will be gathered, stored and used to create a medical diet recipe template for your child and to ensure your child receives the correct safe meal. More information about how your child’s personal data is available in our Medical Diet Privacy Notice.
Please sign below to indicate that you are happy for your child’s personal data to be processed for the purposes indicated in this form and in the Medical Diet Policy. You can withdraw your consent to this processing at any time, but please note that if you do so, we will not be able to continue to provide your child with a medical diet.
Please note that if the details within this form (including your contact details) change, you must inform us immediately by requesting and completing a change of details form from your school.
It may be that we need to contact you annually to review your child’s medical diet and if no response is received, your child’s medical diet will be discontinued, so it is very important that we have up-to-date contact details for you.
By providing this information and signing the request form you are confirming your wish for us to provide your child with a medical diet.
| Print name:
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| Signed:
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| Date:
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Appendix 4
| Medical Diet Change to Personal Details Form | |
| Learner Name: | Learner Date of Birth: |
| School Name and Address:
Postcode:
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| PLEASE COMPLETE RELEVANT AREAS FOR CHANGE | |
| Parent/Carers Name: | New Parent/Carers Name: |
| Previous Address:
Postcode:
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New Address:
New Postcode: |
| Email Address: | New Email Address: |
| Contact Telephone Number: | New Contact Telephone Number: |
| Any changes to diagnosis please supply supporting medical evidence.
Brief outline of learner’s food allergy/Intolerance (as per medical letter):
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| Have you included updated medical evidence (if applicable)? YES ( ) NO ( )
Without a copy of medical evidence in the form of a Dietitian or Paediatric Consultant letter, detailing your child’s food allergy/intolerance, we will not be able to provide your child with a medical diet. |
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| Print name:
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| Signed:
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| Date:
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Appendix 5
Summary of all Special Diets that are catered by NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd
| School | |
| Area Catering Manager | |
| Cook/Site Supervisor |
This form is to be updated each academic year and returned to NEWydd Catering & Cleaning Ltd Head Office.
| Learners Name | Special Diet/Allergy Details | Notes | |
| 1 | |||
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