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Infection prevention and control if you work with children and young people

If you're a childminder, or work in another pre-school setting, such as a  nursery, these sources of information should help you to strengthen the prevention and control of infections where you work.

Parents might also find this useful to help keep their children healthy and to help prevent the spread of illnesses.


Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z

Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z lists a wide range of infectious diseases and how to manage them.

It includes information on chickenpox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, head lice, and others.

It explains what the infection is and what you need to do if it occurs where you are.

Action checklists

The page also has specific action checklists (also downloadable as PDFs) to help deal with:

Exclusions

The word 'exclusion' refers to public health exclusions, and is not used here in the sense of a school exclusion.

The exclusion table (GOV.UK) is a quick reference table that lists how long a person should stay away from a particular setting when they have a particular infection.

There are posters you can download here aimed at parents and carers telling them when they should keep their child off school, or let their nursery know when they have an infectious disease.

e-Bug resources

The e-Bug teaching resources are designed to promote behaviour change in children and young people. This should help to prevent or reduce the transmission of infections in their schools and communities.

Examples of the resources include lessons, games and posters accredited by the Association of Science Education.

They're mapped to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, and to the school curriculum key stages 1-4. There are additional materials for community groups as well.

The resources are free and the materials are translated into a number of different languages.

HANDi App

HANDi Paediatric App is a free app designed for parents and carers, and healthcare professionals. It has simple and straightforward advice to help you feel more confident to deal with high temperatures, and a range of common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea and vomiting, or a chesty baby or child.

How to wash your hands NHS song

The NHS has produced a child-friendly song explaining how to wash your hands.

Posters and printed materials

Posters are available for use by all education and childcare settings (GOV.UK) to promote the latest advice and guidance. You can download PDFs or you can ask for a free printed version.

Infection prevention training

There's a range of providers who offer training on infection prevention in schools and early years settings.

We recommend making sure any training you access is from a credible source that is quality assured.

Report an outbreak of an infectious disease

Contact the East Midlands UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) Health Protection Team: