Today Public Health Scotland (PHS) updated Scotland’s national guidance on health protection in children and young people settings. These resources provide good practice recommendations to people working in schools and early learning and childcare settings to prevent and reduce the impact of infectious disease.
Click on the links below:
- Early years settings: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/health-protection-for-early-years-childcare-settings/
What does the guidance cover?
The guidance provides practical, evidence-based advice to support staff and volunteers on:
- exclusion periods for infectious diseases
- preventing the spread of infectious diseases
- identifying and responding to outbreaks
- infection prevention and control measures
- immunisation programmes
- environmental hygiene
- health protection responsibilities within settings
The guidance aims to support local decision-making and does not have any statutory or regulatory requirements. Decisions about how the recommendations are implemented, including the resources required, are the responsibility of individual settings and providers. This includes local authorities, private providers and individual childminders.
What is different about the updated guidance?
This update builds on Scotland’s first national health protection guidance for all children and young people settings, published as we retired the COVID-19 focused guidance.
Based on feedback the guidance has been made more practical and easier to use.
Key changes include:
- Separate guidance for early years settings and schools, providing advice tailored to the needs of each sector.
- All key recommendations are now provided in one resource – reducing the need to cross-reference other resources and making the guidance easier to use.
- Exclusion periods remain aligned with UKHSA guidance (used in England) providing a consistent evidence-based approach across the UK and to minimise confusion for staff, parents and carers.
- Greater emphasis on practical implementation, including step-by-step advice, common scenarios and operational guidance for frontline staff.
- Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, increased emphasis on health inequalities, balancing control measures against educational and social harms.
- Clearer guidance on outbreak management, including recording absences, escalation to health protection teams and communication during outbreaks.
- Expanded content on immunisation programmes, including supporting vaccine delivery and uptake.
- New and enhanced content on outdoor learning, ventilation, residential settings, additional support needs and disability considerations.
- A modernised online format, making it easier to update exclusion periods, links and supporting resources as required – but provision of a printable version where access to a computer is limited.
How was the guidance updated?
The guidance has been developed through PHS’s established guidance development process. Key to this was a multidisciplinary guidance development group (GDG) which brought together health protection professionals, teachers, senior education leaders, early learning and childcare settings, childminding organisations, teaching unions, professional associations, the Care Inspectorate, ARHAI Scotland and Scottish Government colleagues.
This collaborative approach helped ensure the guidance is informed by evidence, expert opinion, and the practical experience of those working across Scotland’s education and childcare sectors.
The development process included:
- reconvening of the guidance development group
- review of the scientific and expert opinion evidence base
- using group consensus to move from evidence-to-recommendation
- formal public consultation
- engaging with parents and carers
- governance approval and endorsement processes
Please spread the word
We would be grateful if you could share these resources with colleagues and networks who may find them useful.
Queries and feedback
For any queries about health protection in children and young people settings please contact your local NHS health protection team. Contacts are available in the guidance or here: NHS health protection team contacts
For any feedback on the guidance please email [email protected]
Regards
John
John Nicol
Head of Covid Public Inquiries and Resilience | Education Directorate | Director-General Education and Justice | Scottish Government
E: [email protected] | M: 07597591701 |Pronouns: (him/he)