Inspection of 10 November 2025 — Inspection Report
Regulation 11 — Staffing levels
- (2) The minimum adult to child ratio was not maintained in the Wobbler room as the times below outlines. • From 11:25-11:56am there was 1 adult caring for 10 children aged 1-2 years, a minimum of 2 adults were required. • From 11:56-12:06pm there was 1 adult caring for 8 children aged 1-2 years of age, 2 adults were required. • From 12:08-12:11pm there was 1 adult caring for 7 children aged 1-2 years of age, 2 adults were required. • From 12:17-12:56pm there was 1 adult caring for 8 children aged 1-2 years of age, 2 adults were required. Insufficient adult to child ratio’s poses a potential risk to the safety of children
Provider's corrective action:
- (2) In response to the non-compliance the registered provider has stated that the regulatory adult-to-child ratio must be maintained at all times regardless of sleep routines or room layout. Management have reviewed the lunch time roster to ensure that the ratio during sleep periods as it is for the rest of the day
Regulation 19 — Health, welfare and development of child
- Basic Needs: 1. The practice of offering children more food at mealtimes was not observed in the Toddler and Butterfly rooms. For example. • The children in the Toddler room were not offered more food at lunch time. • At 12:20pm three children in the Butterfly room communicated to staff they were still hungry. The staff member informed the children that any extra food had been served, and they would have to wait until 3.00pm for afternoon tea. On the intervention of the inspector more food was provided to the children to meet their nutritional needs at 12.25pm. 2. The children in the Wobbler room did not receive meals at regular intervals throughout the day to ensure their nutritional needs were met. For example. Breakfast was served from 7:30-8:30am and consisted of cereal and milk, a morning snack at 9:30am of sliced fruits, a lunch time meal of vegetable pasta at 11am followed by an afternoon tea of toasted sandwiches of cheese and ham at 3pm. Children require to be offered food every three hours to ensure that their nutritional needs are met while attending the service. 3. Children in the Wobbler room did not have their care needs for comfort and attention met in a timely manner between 11:25-1:12pm. For example: • Five children that were placed in their cots at 11:20am had no available adult to settle them to sleep. As a result, two children didn’t sleep until 12.31pm and one child that had intermittent episodes of crying and upset was removed from their cot awake at 12.28pm. • One child placed in a cot at 11.20am, was unsettled due to a soiled nappy and was not changed until 12.00pm. • From 12:08 to 1:12pm the staff member left 3 children unsupervised intermittently to carry out sleep checks in the cot room. This resulted in a child that was new to the service becoming upset and crying when the staff member left the room
Provider's corrective action:
- 1. In response to the non-compliances the registered provider has stated that they have reviewed and updated their food-portioning procedures. The cook has been instructed to prepare additional quantities of each meal daily, ensuring that extra servings are always available. The cook will serve the initial portion of dinner to each child and the educator will serve any additional portions to children who require more. The service will maintain a supply of extra fruits and alternative snacks each day, this remains standard practice and is now being reinforced with staff to ensure that children must be actively offered more food if they appear hungry or request additional portions. 2. The service has re-aligned this 4-hour gap so snacks and meals occur no more than three hours apart, in line with best practice. We have now added a snack (fruit, rice-cake, crackers) to accompany the 1pm milk. 3. Ratios have been reviewed and improved to ensure a second staff member is always available for settling children if needed and supervise the children who are awake when sleep checks are being carried out
Regulation 23 — Safeguarding health, safety and welfare of child
- General Safety: 1. The staff room on the first floor of the building was accessible to the children in the Butterfly, Bumblebee and Ladybird rooms. The children accessed the sanitary facilities located near the staff room independently and the door to the staff room was propped open. The children could potentially access a cleaning liquid stored in an unlocked cupboard, a staff members bag and a kettle as the door was observed open. It is acknowledged that the service manager took appropriate action to remove the hazards following a discussion with the inspector. 2. Four highchairs in use in the Wobbler room were not fitted with suitable restraints to prevent a child from climbing out of the seats and injuring themselves. 3. The surface temperature of a radiator in the Ladybird room exceeded the recommended temperature of 50 o C and increased the potential risk of scalding a child. The temperature was recorded as 55 o C at 10:56am. It is acknowledged that the service manager took appropriate action to reduce the temperature of the radiator following a discussion with the inspector. Infection Control: 4. Thermostatically controlled warm water was not available in the sanitary facilities or care rooms used by the children in the service. The temperature of the water was cold to touch and therefore did not create effective hand hygiene. 5. Practices observed in the service to reduce the effective control of cross infection were not in line with best practice guidelines. For example. • Flooring and soft matting in the Ladybird room were observed to be torn and damaged with reduced the effective cleaning of the areas and increased the potential risk of cross infection. • Paper towel used to dry staff and children’s hands was not stored in a dispenser. • Staff in the Wobbler room carried out nappy changing by bringing 5 children at a time to the sanitary facility. While children waited for their turn they sat on the floor. Safe Sleep: 6. Practices observed in the service were not in line with the service policy on safe sleep and best practice guidelines. For example. • Two children under two years of age were not facilitated to sleep in cots as per the service safe sleep policy. The children were accommodated on low stackable beds. A documented sleep assessment completed by parents and staff was not available to demonstrate that parents were aware of the associated risk with this practice. This is at variance with best practice sleep guidelines issued to the sector in September 2023 • Staff members in the Wobbler room did not document 10-minute sleep checks on all children that slept in the cot room to include each child’s colour, breathing and position from 11:20-12.00pm and 12:43- 1:03pm. Staff then recorded checks retrospectively and for periods of time that no staff member had observed the children sleeping. Action submitted by the Registered Provider
Provider's corrective action:
- General Safety: 1. In response to the non-compliances the registered provider has stated that all cleaning products and staff belongings have been relocated to a storage area out of reach of children. Staff have been reminded of the importance of ensuring the door remains secured at all times, and this measure has been added to our daily safety checklist. 2. All highchairs were immediately removed from use pending assessment. Replacement 5-point harnesses were purchased and fitted to the highchairs. 3. Following the inspector’s visit, the radiator temperature was adjusted and brought within safe limits. Infection Control: 4. To address the non-compliance a qualified plumber has since fixed the problem to ensure a consistent supply of warm water suitable for effective hand hygiene. 5. In response the service has stated the following. • The mat in the ladybird room has been replaced, the tear in the lino has been repaired and paper towels have now been placed in a sealed, wall-mounted dispenser to ensure they are stored hygienically and accessed appropriately by children and staff. • Staff have been instructed to take children for nappy changing one at a time. The creche ‘floater’ will come to the room when a nappy change is required to ensure ratios are maintained at all times. Policy revised and staff have been issued with the policy, and we have talked through the nappy changing procedure with them going forward. Safe Sleep: 6. To address the non-compliances and ensure full alignment with Safe Sleep best-practice guidelines the following has been completed. Service sleep policy and procedures have been updated. Parent communication procedures have been strengthened to ensure ongoing consent and awareness of sleep practices for their child by using the sleep assessment form from Tusla. Staff have been reminded on the importance of documenting real-time sleep checks every 10 minutes, to ensure accurately recording position, breathing, and observations. A monitoring system has been introduced to ensure that sleep checks are completed in real time and reviewed by the room leader daily. We are committed to providing safe, developmentally appropriate sleep environments for all children and ensuring full compliance with Tusla’s Safe Sleep guidance
Found compliant: Regulation 9, 25, 26, 29.