Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
General Safety: 1. A cupboard in the Junior pre-school room was chipped and broken exposing sharp edges to the children, this posed a risk of injury. Infection Control: 1. The sterilisation of soothers in the Toddler and Junior pre-school room was at variance with the services policy. Staff in the room told the inspector they sterilise the soothers every Friday. The services policy states that soothers are to be sterilised at the end of every day. 2. Some nappy changing practices observed during the inspection were inadequate for infection control purposes and at variance with the service’s nappy changing procedure as follows; - A staff member was observed to redress a child with the same gloves used for nappy changing, - A child’s nose was cleaned while the adult wore the same gloves used for nappy changing, - The changing mat was not wiped down in between a nappy change, - No apron was worn for one nappy change, - The children’s hands were not washed after two nappy changes. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
General Safety: 1. The cupboard in the Junior Preschool room has since been repaired. Infection Control: 1. All staff have been refreshed on the sterilisation of soothers policy and will ensure that soothers in use will be sterilised daily. 2. Staff have completed training on nappy changing and Infection control to ensure we eliminate the spread of infection or any cross contamination. Summary Comment This regulatory requirement has been met and will be reviewed on the next inspection
Found compliant: Regulation 9, 11, 16, 25, 26.
Inspection of 25 September 2024 — Inspection Report
Regulation 16 — Record in relation to pre-school service
(i) The staff roster available on the day of inspection did not set out the adult:child ratio on a daily basis for the ECCE 1 and ECCE 2 care rooms. These rooms were not included on the roster and four staff who were observed working in the rooms were rostered under other areas of the service for the week including Afterschool and Relief staff. (k) A sample of seventeen accident and incident records were reviewed. The record relating to the incident which occurred on 17 September 2024 was incomplete. While it is acknowledged that the incident record stated that the parents were notified of the incident, the record had not been signed by the parent contrary to the service policy on accidents and incidents
Provider's corrective action:
(i) The ECCE/Afterschool staff work across both sessions daily. The roster has been compliant in all previous inspections. The roster was amended on the day of inspection to include an additional row to separate the two sessions. The roster was changed to reflect the change of sessions and staffing across ecce and afterschool. (k) All incidents are reported to parents on the day and incident reports are signed. The child was absent, and the report was signed when the child arrived back in. On completion of recording incidents by the centre management and staff, the parent will sign the report on the same day or on the child’s next arrival day to creche
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
General Safety: 1. The inspectors were not assured that staff in the ECCE 2 room were adequately familiar with the parents of the children in the care room to allow them to safely handover children to the correct adult at collection time. This may pose a risk to the child’s safety if a staff member is unable to identify adults authorised to collect the child. Staff in the room stated that they did not meet the parents at the start of the ECCE year and that they do not know all the parents by sight yet. Parents drop and collect their children from the main door of the service and do not enter the building to collect children from the care room. Practices observed on the day of inspection demonstrated that one staff member in this room did not carry out any handovers while the other staff member completed a number of handovers. Handovers were observed to be predominantly carried out by the person in charge and the deputy person in charge. 2. In the ECCE 1 room, a low level cupboard was not safely secured and a bottle of cleaning agent was accessible posing a safety risk if accessed by a child. This non-compliance was present on the last inspection. The corrective and preventive actions did not prevent recurrence of this non-compliance. 3. In the Junior Preschool room a trailing cable from an air cooling unit was observed to be accessible to children posing a risk of injury. 4. One window in the Junior Preschool room and three windows in the ECCE 1 room were observed to be open without the safety latch on. There was a low ledge directly under the windows which lead to the windows being accessible to children posing a risk of injury or a child exiting the care room unsupervised. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
General Safety: 1. A full review of the handovers with the ECCE staff has been reviewed. Parents now collect their children from the base rooms where all ECCE staff complete the handovers with all parents. Further communication by letter/individual communication was given to the parents on the 27th September and the changes effective from the 30th September 2024. Management and staff will ensure that safety is prioritised at all times and they will continue to monitor the environment and practice in relation to general safety. The handovers at ECCE are under continuous monitoring of the management team at collection to ensure children are collected safely. 2. A safety catch was placed on the new built in unit in the ECCE 1 room. Management and staff will ensure that safety is prioritised at all times and they will continue to monitor the environment and practice in relation to general safety. 3. The Junior preschool room has built in air con and the mobile aircon unit was removed from the room on the day of the inspection. Management and staff will ensure that safety is prioritised at all times and they will continue to monitor the environment and practice in relation to general safety. 4. The safety catches on the window in Junior Preschool and windows in the ecce room has been resecured. Management and staff will ensure that safety is prioritised at all times and they will continue to monitor the environment and practice in relation to general safety
Found compliant: Regulation 9, 10, 11, 20, 27, 28, 31.
(e)(h) One record did not contain details of authorisation to collect a child or a record of immunisations, if any, received by the child. This posed a risk to the child as details were not available in the event of an emergency
Provider's corrective action:
(e)(h) One record that did not contain details of additional authorisation persons to collect a child or a record of immunisations have been placed on file. All paperwork will be cross-checked by management prior to children starting and we shall ensure that a record in writing is kept in respect of each pre-school child attending the service
Regulation 20 — Facilities for rest and play
Appropriate rest facilities were not provided for all children under 2 years of age in the Wobbler 2 room. Five children aged 1 year were observed on floor beds during the designated nap time. These beds were not fitted with firm, flat, waterproof and breathable mattresses
Provider's corrective action:
(1)(b) Three of the five children in the older wobbler room have since turned two years old and sleep on sleep mats. Two of the children have been placed back in cots until they turn two years of age in July and November. All children sleeping or resting will be provided with a cot under two or a comfortable sleep mat once they turn two years of age. The Management and staffing will ensure that all reasonable measures are taken to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of all children attending the service
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
General Safety: 1. In the Wobbler 2 room, the cupboard beneath the sink was not safely secured and three bottles of cleaning agents were accessible posing a safety risk if accessed by a child. 2. In the outdoor area, to the front of the service, sections of the shock absorbent rubbing matting were observed to be broken and coming away from the ground posing a tripping risk to the children. Infection Control: Inspectors observed a number of practices which posed a risk of transmission of infection within the service: 3. Some nappy changing practices observed during the inspection were inadequate for infection control purposes and at variance with the service’s nappy changing procedure as follows; - A staff member was observed to redress a child with the same used gloves, - A child’s nose was cleaned while the adult wore the same gloves used for nappy changing, - A child was observed with a toy in the nappy changing area, - Children’s hands were cleaned with wet cotton wool following a nappy change which is ineffective for infection control. 4. Staff and children were observed lifting the lid of the bin to dispose of waste in the Wobbler 2 and Toddler care rooms. Safe Sleep: 5. While it is acknowledged that parents had given consent for five children under 2 years of age to sleep on floor beds, there was no individual sleep plan in place for these children who were observed on floor beds during the inspection. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
General Safety: 1. The press lock within the wobbler 2 room has since been replaced and is secure. 2. A quotation was secured to repair sections of the shock absorbent rubbing matting in the garden and is scheduled to be repaired. Infection Control: 3. Staff in the two rooms highlighted during inspection have been refreshed and full demonstrations of the Nappy changing policy and Infection Control policy have been completed to eliminate cross contamination. Training completed by all staff. 4. Staff have since been reminded to use the foot pedal when opening the bins, training has also been provided. The bins within the two rooms highlighted have been placed out of sight of children and children will be reminded and shown how to use the foot pedal in the event of using the bin during activities or meal times. Support will be given to staff to ensure practice is in line with the policy. Signage has been placed around the bin areas to prompt staff when operating them. The Management team will ensure that all practice and safety measures are constantly checked to ensure that it is in line with best practice. Management will ensure staff are following best practice in relation to all aspects of care and safety in the indoor and outdoor environment. Safe Sleep: 5. No children under the age of two years rest on sleep mats unless they pose a risk to themselves. Individual risk assessments will be completed and will be used in conjunction with families should they be required