Fonthill Lodge Childcare, Dublin 15 — inspection reports and findings

Sessional · 0 - 6 Years · Dublin 15, Dublin · Tusla ID TU2024FL005 · Registered since 22 August 2024

An inspection records what inspectors saw on one day; services respond with corrective actions — how to read this.

Inspection of 10 February 2026 — Change in Circumstance

No non-compliance recorded in this report.

Inspection of 19 August 2025 — Inspection Report

Immediate action notice. An Immediate Action Notice (IAN) was issued to the general manager on the day of inspection under Regulation 23 in relation to an identified a significant safety risk. A written response was received on the 20 August 2025 which mitigated the significant risk. Further details are available under Regulation 23.

Regulation 15 — Record of pre-school child

(1) (h) The registered provider did not ensure that the record of vaccines was fully completed in five of the records sampled. This posed a potential risk for children’s safety in the event of an infectious disease outbreak

Provider's corrective action:

The service has stated that they immediately contacted the parents of the children with incomplete vaccination records and obtained the missing information. All records have been verified to ensure they are complete. Mangers will check and verify all vaccinations records at the point of enrolment and during routine audits

Regulation 16 — Record in relation to pre-school service

(1) (j) The registered provider did not ensure that four of the ten records sampled were completed in full, the following information was missing from four records. • One record was missing a parent signature. This poses a risk to parents being unaware of medication administered. • One record was missing a manager’s signature; this is at variance from the service policy on medication administration. • Two records were missing both parental and staff signatures for medications given over a period of eight days. It is acknowledged that the records were completed in full for the first day but not for subsequent days. This poses a risk to children potentially receiving medication in error and is at variance form the service policy on medication administration

Provider's corrective action:

The service has stated that they have replaced the previous medication form with the correct one, which requires signatures from staff, parents and a witness. Staff have been reminded of the importance of ensuring parental consent and signatures are obtained for all medications. Staff have been instructed to bring the record to the manager for review and a signature, daily. A review of policy and procedure will be included in our staff meeting in September 2025. Daily checks by room leaders to confirm medication forms are fully completed before the end of each day. Managers will verify all medication records daily. The policy will be refreshed with staff to ensure compliance

Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child

General Safety: 1. The temperature of a sink accessible to children in both the Yellow and Green rooms exceeded the recommended temperature of 43°C. This posed a scald risk to children. The following was observed. • The inspector recorded a temperature of 51.2°C in the sink located in the Yellow room. An Immediate Action Notice was issued to the service on the day of inspection in respect to this risk. The actions submitted by the General Manager on the 20 August 2025 were sufficient to address this risk. • The temperature of a sink within the Green room which was accessible to children was recorded at 49.5°C at 11:48am. 2. The registered provider did not ensure that a safe ambient room temperature was maintained between the recommended 18 and 22°C in the Bumblebee and Yellow rooms on the day of inspection, the following was observed. • An ambient temperature of 23.2°C was recorded at 11:36am in the Yellow room and 23.6°C in the Bumblebee room at 11:02am. It is acknowledged that water was freely available to the children and that windows were open to promote air flow. The increased temperature poses a risk of potential overheating for young children. Action submitted by the Registered Provider

Provider's corrective action:

General Safety: 1. A written response was revied from the service on the 20 August 2025 stating that the anti-scald valve had failed but was replaced immediately following inspection. The water temperature was checked and recorded at 39°C which was within safe operating range. Daily checks of water temperature in all child-accessible sinks will be logged for review by management, and any deviation will be reported and immediately addressed without delay. 2. The service has stated that the widows were opened, and blinds pulled down and water was made freely available to children. Room doors will be left open when safe to promote airflow between rooms. Fans will be placed at windows to circulate cooler air when necessary. Staff will record ambient room temperatures and any readings above the recommended range will trigger immediate actions to cool the rooms or go outside when possible. Management will review temperature logs weekly to ensure compliance

Regulation 27 — Supervision

The registered provider did not ensure that preschool children attending the service were supervised at all times. This was evidenced in the following way: 1. At 2:46pm, two children from the Green room, aged between 2-3 years old were observed to have access to the sanitary area unsupervised, at 2:59pm one child was observed to be calling for help as the toilet door was stuck. At this time the Inspector observed that the Green room door was closed preventing children from being supervised by sight or sound. This posed a potential risk to children’s safety

Provider's corrective action:

1. The service has stated that staff were spoken with to understand why supervision procedures were not followed, they confirmed that this was an oversight and not reflective of the services established supervision practices. Staff were reminded of the expectation to keep the Green room door opened to ensure that children can be supervised by sight and sound at all times and staff were reminded of the procedure to use the in-room phone to call for assistance from the office if needed. Additional support was provided to the staff to ensure full understanding of the supervision requirements. Supervision practices including the use of the phone for assistance and keeping doors open for visibility was reiterated with all staff and will be included for discussion in the staff meetings. Management will carry out daily checks to ensure doors are positioned to allow supervision by sight or sound at all times and any future lapses will be formally documented and followed up with retraining

Fonthill Lodge Childcare

Inspection of 10 February 2026 — Change in Circumstance

Inspection of 19 August 2025 — Inspection Report

Regulation 15 — Record of pre-school child

Regulation 16 — Record in relation to pre-school service

Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child

Regulation 27 — Supervision

Inspection of 4 December 2024 — Inspection Report

Earlier inspections

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