To be appalled by this nursery's hygiene?

[madmomma]

Dd works in a nursery as a trainee. As is I believe quite normal, since starting there 6m ago she has been picking up one gastric bug after another, sometimes d and v, sometimes just d. The first time it happened I told her to ring in sick, and that they're wouldn't want her in until 48hrs after the last vomit. How wrong I was! They basically want her and the rest of the staff to come in despite gastric symptoms. Aibu to think this is pretty shoddy, and dangerous for the babies?

Yes and yes sounda dreadful poorly run and probably short staffed not that its a reason to pull puking staff into work. No wonder they are always ill its just going round in circles

Yup. You should report to the h&s regulatory body and and your daughter should look for another place of work!

She will catch everything thats going when i started working with children at 16 i caught everything from vomiting bugs to scabies but you had to stay away from work

I once reported a nursery to Ofsted after what a young trainee on a placement told me, poor hygiene, bullying of younger staff members, babies left to cry. Not sure what happened as the student wasn't willing to come forward but hopefully some action was taken. Most nurseries are great but its amazing what students find out what parents would never get to know about.

Thanks. I've tried to persuade her to go to a different nursery but weirdly, she's happy there. She says it's nice apart from being germy... But she's constantly nauseous and often has the trots.

I have worked in places where you are supposed to stay away if you are ill. But they didn't pay you if you weren't at work. So people still went in and just hid being ill. Not good I know, but everyone was already low paid and couldn't have afforded lots of days off sick without pay.

No I'm pretty sure that they're not told to stay away. Money wouldn't be a concern for her cos she's only 17 and at home.

This is completely wrong - the nursery has to make sure there are enough staff but not at the expense of the babies' and staff's health.
Is DD attached to a college and working on placement? If she is, raise your concerns with her tutor. I would stress they are trying to pull staff into work when they are ill and emphasize that your DD isn't going to do this.

No she's employed on a training wage so it's her 'job' iyswim

I used to share a flat with someone who worked in a nursery and some are well known for this - the staff picked up bugs from the children, but didn't get sick pay so would go back in and spread it around. The stuff she told me about that working there was shocking - staff paid late (and pay was rubbish), contact books written up lying about what the children had eaten/drunk, the owner appearing to live a very nice life whilst scrimping on the nursery at every opportunity....she left as soon as she could.

Can you report anonymously to the regulator? Or is your daughter in a union?

Ynbu. If I had a child in nursery . I would not be pleased if staff were there who had DV or even just D or V.
Hope your dd is better soon. There's nothing worse than gastro symptoms
especially when she has cunts nagging her to get into work.. I wouldn't go in. If you're not wrll. You're not well. Noone gets sick on purpose. Surley demanding sgd goes in. Is a breach of every H&S policy.

It is a warning sign if a lot of children and adults are having problems, and really they ought to professionally deep clean it over a weekend and thereafter implement a 48-hour exclusion period for any people with potentially infectious vomiting and diarrhoea (i.e. not what they call toddler diarrhoea, which can go on for weeks after an infection has passed as the gut repairs itself). They probably also need to up their hand washing regimes.

I think this is grounds for ringing OFSTED and saying you have concerns about hygiene and exclusion periods for both staff and children.

How assertive is she ? Could she take her own disposable gloves for nappy changes and hand gel and tell her to wash her hands more and if anybody says anything she could say I just dont want to catch anything and be off work.

Thing is some parents will send their kids in ill and say "oh they were fine this morning" when its obvious they were not fine.

Mrs Jay. With the risk of turning this into a political discussion.
That's were more rights for working parents comes into play.
A lot of parents could send their dcs into nursery /school sick because they can't get the time off. My manager has always been if the mind set. Your kids come first but not all managers are like that.
Well as you've seen by op's thread.

You are right i agree with you alternative childcare isnt always possible i just wish parents didnt feel the need to lie imo daycare should have sickrooms;anyway i dont want to start a debate just we know when kids are sick and this is how it goes round and round.

Union?? She's not even on minimum wage!

My son's nursery (council run, so I'm assuming staff got sick pay) once had to close when all the staff came down with a bug - when I see parents claiming they have to send their children in because they just can't get time off, I wonder why they think all the other parents impacted when their children get sick/they get sick/all the nursery staff get sick are so unimportant compared to them.

Surely continual gastric bugs aren't normal at a nursery?

DS1 was at nursery for about 3 years and had maybe 3 or 4 gastric bugs in that time (one of which I'm sure he caught from a vomiting child at a soft play place outside of nursery).

DS1 has been at the same nursery for a little over a year and has had one vomiting bug.

If she's ill with gastric symptoms all the time since starting then I'd definitely be concerned about the hygiene standards and exclusion policies for potentially infectious people at the nursery.