AAIs are prescription-only medicines, which means that you cannot use one person’s AAI in another person unless you are a medical professional, nor were schools allowed to keep “spare” AAI(s) for emergencies.
Following a recommendation from the Commission on Human Medicines and a UK-wide public consultation, the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 was changed on 5 July 2017 to allow schools to hold spare AAIs, without a prescription, for use in emergencies. These regulations came into effect on 1 October 2017.
The change in the law does not affect a school’s responsibility with regards to a pupil at risk of anaphylaxis. Schools already had a duty to be able to care for an allergic child (and, if a child is having anaphylaxis, provide emergency management) under The Children and Families Act 2014, supported by the statutory guidance with Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions.
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