3.3 Physical Contact and Intimate Care

Contents

1. Definition
2. Staff Duties
3. Reporting Concerns

1. Definition

Intimate care is any care which involves washing, touching or carrying out an invasive procedure (such as cleaning a child after they have soiled themselves) to intimate personal areas. In most cases such care will involve cleaning for hygiene purposes as part of a staff member's duty of care.

2. Staff Duties

Children have the right to be safe and be treated with dignity, privacy and respect in relation to their bodies.

Staff should be sensitive and respectful of the child's needs.  The child's dignity should always be preserved with high level of privacy, choice and control.

Staff behaviour must be open to scrutiny and staff should work in partnership with parents to provide a continuity of care to the child.

Staff should in consultation with a parent complete an Individual Care Plan. This Care plan should be written in a manner, which is understood, by the parent, and all members of staff.

Staff should follow these guidelines to best practice:

• The care should be provided in a manner that is fitting to the child's stage of development as opposed to their chronological age. This means that the member of staff  should have an understanding of the child's abilities and should react accordingly and this especially true for a child with special needs.
• The intimate care should be provided in a manner that enables the child to be involved in its own care.  Wherever possible the care should be provided in a way that enables the child to learn how to take greater responsibility for their own intimate care.   The member of staff  should explain to the child exactly how the care would be given.  For some children the use of visual cues or the staff modelling the procedure is desirable.
• The intimate care will be carried out by the same member of staff wherever possible and if the child shows signs of dislike for a particular member of staff consideration should be given whether that member of staff can change their practice or the care would be better provided by another member of staff.  In exceptional circumstances more than one playworker may need to undertake the care such as:
  • There are manual handling issues and a risk assessment has been done.
  • The child has extra needs for support such as uncontrolled epilepsy
  • A child has a history of making allegations against adults and there is reason to think that this could happen again
• Staff  should only undertake tasks that they are familiar with or that they are competent to complete.
  • Intimate Care should be provided with as much consistency as possible and this means that: The member of staff  follows the Intimate Care Plan
  • Where different members of staff provide the care they should provide it in the same manner
• Be sensitive and responsive to the child's reactions that may change.  The staff member should aim to promote the child's self image and throughout the procedure ensure that the child is comfortable with what is happening. The staff member should ensure that the child is confident that their body belongs to them and that if they say 'no at anytime this will be respected.
• Encourage the child to have a positive image of its own body and express the naturalness of nature.

3. Reporting Concerns

Providing intimate care can sometimes lead to situations where a member of staff is concerned about the welfare of the child. 

This could be the observation of marks or bruises or something the child says or does. In these situations the member of staff should report their concerns to the Manager and record on an Incident Report (see Incidents Procedure)

End