Inspection of 23 October 2024 — Inspection Report
Regulation 9 — Management and recruitment
- (2) (d) (1) Verified translation for three adult’s overseas police vetting, into English, was unavailable. (2) Overseas police vetting was unavailable for one adult for whom it was required. (4) One adult was awaiting a letter of qualification recognition from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth of which evidence was furnished to the inspector of an application submitted in September 2024. The second adult was missing their certification of results
Provider's corrective action:
- The following statements were received from the registered provider: (2) (d) (1) Verified translation for the three adult’s overseas police vetting are now on file for each adult. Management will ensure that all vetting requiring translation into English is place before commencement of employment. (2) An overseas police vetting disclosure has been received for one adult for whom it was required. (4) The adult concerned is still awaiting a letter of qualification recognition from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The adult will work in the school age care service in the interim period
Regulation 10 — Policies, procedures etc. of pre-school service
- On review the following policies required further development; (1) Infection Control – did not include the procedures for hand hygiene practice and procedures for staff and children, specific measures for the prevention of cross contamination or the safe management of perishable food. (2) Healthy Eating - did not include how perishable food was safely stored, prepared or served. While the policy stated that children would be supervised it did not state how this would happen. (3) Safe Sleep – The section on the procedures in place to ensure a safe, comfortable, supervised sleep environment for all sleeping children did not include the inclusion of ten-minute physical sleep checks being documented and carried out from when the children enter the sleep room, as required
Provider's corrective action:
- The following statements were received from the registered provider: (1), (2) and (3) The three policies were updated to include the required information. Policies and procedures will be updated regularly to ensure they include new updates to the sector and the required information
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
- General Safety: (1) A trip switch in the Toddler sleep room, located at the children’s level, was easily accessible by the children, posing a safety risk. (2) The inspector observed there were five extra stackable beds stored on top of each other in the Toddler sleep room, posing a safety risk should a child try to climb to the top of them. Infection Control: (3) There were no fridges to store perishable food in the Sessional Montessori and Montessori 1 care rooms. At snack time the inspector observed perishable food being removed from the children’s bags, which were hung on hooks or in cubby holes, in the care rooms. In conversation, staff stated that neither care room had a fridge to store perishable food and were unaware of the requirement to store perishable food in a fridge at temperatures between 0 - 5°C to prevent the food from spoiling. (4) The inspector observed that there were no sterilising procedures in place in the Toddler and Playschool care rooms for sanitising children’s soothers. In conversation, staff stated that soothers were placed straight into the children’s bags after the children’s sleep time, posing a potential risk from germs still being present when the soothers are used straight from the bags the following day. Administration of Medication: (5) The inspector observed that an auto injector pen, available in the event of an emergency for a designated child, was out of date posing a safety risk as the efficacy of the medication may be affected. In discussion, staff were unsure whether this medication was still required and there was no paperwork available on the day to confirm that the medication should not be in use. Safe Sleep: (6) Ten-minute physical sleep checks were not being regularly recorded from the time the children entered the the Toddler and Playschool sleep rooms. In conversation, staff members stated they were not recording ten- minute checks throughout the time the children are in the sleep rooms. The inspector observed that one child’s sleep record in the Toddler sleep room indicated that a child was checked at 12:20 and again at 12:45 posing a safety risk to the children. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
- The following statements were received from the registered provider: General Safety: (1) The new trip switch has been boxed to ensure the children cannot access the switch. A risk assessment will be carried out in future, when alterations have been made in the service, with any identified risk mitigated. (2) The excess stackable beds will be removed while the sleep room is in use. Infection Control: (3) Food for sessional children will be provided by the service and perishable food will be stored in the main fridge in the service’s kitchen at the required temperature of between 0-5°C. (4) Staff have been informed that microwave sterilisers are available and should be used as required. Administration of Medication: (5) After consulting the parents, a new auto injector pen was purchased and is now available in the service in the event of an emergency. Staff and parents have been reminded to ensure that the auto injector pen is replaced prior to expiry. Safe Sleep: (6) Staff have been informed by management of the need to record the ten-minute physical sleep checks on the children from when they enter the sleep rooms
Regulation 29 — Premises
- (d) (1) Mechanical air vents in the sanitary areas of Pods 3 and 5 were dusty, hindering the extraction of moist and stale air. (2) Two accessible cupboards, under the children’s sinks in Pod 4, were observed to be dirty and one had used tissues lying on the bottom of the shelf. In discussion, staff stated that the outside doors and handles are sanitised but the inside cupboards are not cleaned on a daily basis
Provider's corrective action:
- (d) (1) The air vents in Pods 3 and 5 were cleaned. Air vents have been added to the cleaning schedules. (2) The cupboards under the sinks have been cleaned and these will be checked by management regularly
Found compliant: Regulation 11, 19, 25, 26, 28.