A summary of visit types, with recommendations regarding parental consent and medical information, can be found in the matrix on Visit Approval, Medical Information and Parental Consent within the toolkits section of the website.
The majority of off-site visits are a normal part of educational and other service provision and within this guidance are referred to as ‘Routine and Expected Visits’. For this category of trip the process of gaining consent and informing parents should be kept as simple as possible and must not be restrictive. Recommendations for good practice can be found within Section 8 ‘Routine and Expected Visits’.
Visit specific parental consent is usually only requested for activities or visits that involve a higher level of safety management. These include:
- Residential Visits
- Adventure Activities
- Hazardous environments
- Visits abroad
- Remote supervision or unaccompanied visits
Recommendations for good practice can be found within the relevant visit section and sample consent forms for these different types of activities and visits can be found in the Toolkits section.
For Routine and Expected visits, and the majority of Day Visits, the medical information which has been obtained at the start of a school session (or other appropriate point) is sufficient. As part of this, parents should have been asked to agree to the participant receiving emergency treatment, including anaesthetic or blood transfusion, as considered necessary by the medical authorities. Employers should have a standard form for use in establishments.
It is recommended that for more complex visits parents are asked to provide an update on any medical issues as part of the trip specific consent.
