To consider suing nursery

[atatotalloss4]

I have a beautiful little girl, she is 2 years old and has been in nursery for 8 months. She's come on ever so well and people often comment how well she speaks and lovely manners, I give much of the credit of this to the nursery.

However, there was an incident last week that has left her on antibiotics with a large open sore on her inner thigh. I won't post pictures because they are frankly upsetting but I'll detail how it happened.

8-9 children with 3 (youngest members of staff) went to a park for a picnic, about a 10 minute walk from the nursery. My child had a full well nappy upon arrival, the didn't change her. She then soiled her nappy which leaked considerably, onto her back and thighs. They didn't want to end the trip early for the other children so kept my child in this state for around an hour. Then made her walk back to nursery. This caused the full nappy to fall down and rub her thigh, resulting in this horrible sore. It's about the size of my palm and the GP was aghast at how bad it is. She has been unable to sleep because she can't get comfy, the antibiotics are causing her an upset tummy and she is utterly reluctant to walk resulting in a sort of waddle then she asks to be carried.

The leggings she was in were sent home and they are in an awful state, you can also see how bad they are on picture they uploaded to the nursery app whilst out.

I wasn't contacted about this, nor told at pick up, I found out when I changed her at home and saw the state she was in.

Apparently the staff involved have been given a formal warning and it seems that's that.

Would I be ridiculous to chase this up legally? I'm heartbroken my tiny innocent child was treated with such contempt, it's heartbreaking hearing her cry and unable to walk.

Someone please just give me an outside perspective because im so sad for her im no longer sure if im even thinking straight about it. Thank you x

Yes to all of this.
Sounds like she could end up scarred.

There is no WAY i would send my child back.
This is terrible and should never have been allowed to happen.

My first port of call would be to phone the LADO and OFSTED Monday morning and go from there. They'll likely be able to offer better advice- in the first instance- than a solicitor. I work in education, not little ones but lots of vulnerable kids, and see this as a clear case of neglect. Especially as your DD is too small to really understand the whole toileting thing, as she's not yet potty trained, and I imagine can't fully verbalise it. Therefore shes relying on adults to help her keep safe in that regard, adults that let her down.

Put in a formal complaint - if it was me I would want to talk to the manager and ensure lessons are
learned and that that policies for taking children out of nursery on trips have the correct risk assessments and they are adhered to .

I wouldn’t want to sue them but I would want reassurances this would never happen again .

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/day-nurseries#:~:text=Day%20nurseries%20are%20usually%20privately,Health%20and%20Social%20Care%20Trust.

"All must be registered and annually inspected by Early Years Team in your local Health and Social Care Trust."

You need to contact the EYT in the Belfast Trust.

I previously had contact with the EYT in Northern Trust with a complaint about a day nursery and they were very helpful.

Your poor baby - I hope she is on the mend soon.

No. I hear you. Nurseries cannot be trusted with our precious children.

If you really care, you'll find a way to care for her yourself. Please tell us that you are! Nurseries are hideously understaffed with willing but poorly trained people. Brexit has a lot to answer for 🤷🏻‍♀️

You need to care for your daughter yourself.

I can’t see the image, but I’m so sorry this has happened OP.

I work in childcare (a childminder) and just don’t see how they could let something like this happen! Even if they didn’t notice your daughter’s nappy was full, surely she must have been complaining and hesitant to walk once it started to rub? As for going out without nappies… jeez.

I don’t know anything about the legalities of sueing, but you’re right to take things further.

When you go to that meeting on wednesday go prepared.

Quietly ensure you have turned on voice memo.
Recordings are very helpful for replaying what happened (for yourself if no one else)

I would be trying to document everything while playing a bit dumb.

And i would be pursuing a claim for neglect.
You are not overreacting at all.

Your poor little girl, this is awful. I'd be heartbroken too if this was my child.

Personally, I wouldn't sue. Ireland isn't America. But I would report to all the relevant authorities. That will do way more damage to them then a litigation you most likely won't win. And hopefully result in real change.

Report to Ofsted.

I'd report to Ofsted, CQC, local council, local newspaper, Facebook and I'd sue and / or make an insurance claim on the Nursery's insurance policy

So try this has happened. This seems to happen more often then we qould like to admit.

A family members daughter age 4 had an accident it nursery and broke her little finger. No one told the Mum and when daughter told her Mum at home. Mum went right back and they denied everything and said it never happened here!!!
She was withdrawn right there and then and complaints raised.

One factor why I stay home and take care of my kids.

I hope your little one is feeling better and the AB are working.
As someone who has worked in nurseries, this is a sign of neglect and I would be writing to management first to ask what is going to happen with the staff and what they are going to do in the future to ensure this does not happen again. I would also contact the local council childcare services and Ofsted to check the nursery has informed the correct people of this. If they haven't then I would make an official complaint.
as someone who works in a nursery setting, I can not believe they did this and didn't change a nappy when needed - it's a quick thing to do and wouldn't ruin the trip for others.
Sending love and hugs to your DD, what a horrid situation you have been put in

My dd, when she was around 18/20 months - got home from 4 hours at nursery and her nappy was drenched and full to bursting. This happened several days running. Spoke to the staff and they said she drinks a lot so only to be expected. Assured me that nappies are regularly checked and changed.

Next day, I put a cross with marker pen on the inside fold of her nappy and when I got her home - you guessed it was the same nappy. I rang the nursery owner and advised she wasn't going back there, ever because they left her in the same wet nappy for hours.

The manager denied this, nappies were checked and changed regularly and said I would have to pay her for 3 months notice. I explained about the nappy - that I'd marked it and kept the evidence (as ridiculous as that might sound, I was so upset for my baby. Honest, I was furious and in psb* mode) and was quite prepared to make a formal complaint about the nursery. I said I had engaged a solicitor (a bit extreme, but I was upset and my friend is a lawyer so I sort of had)

Fortunately it was not an inconvenience to keep my baby at home with me - she was only in nursery because her older sister has severe learning and physical disabilities, and I wanted her to have experience of other NT children. (As well as giving me a breather). It was all a bit complicated. I would have preferred to have some respite from my 4 year old with LD, and some experience for her of other NT children, and consequently more one to one with my NT younger dd.
But that support was not forthcoming. No nursery would take a child with significant LD

So. To cut a long story even longer, I never took her back there and I never got a bill for the 3 months. I wish I had complained more at the time. So I think OP should at least register a complaint.

*perfect second born. Obviously that's not how I see it. But people do.

Neglect resulting in physical harm severe enough to need medical intervention.

OP I’m so sorry for you and your little one - such a horrible thing to have happened and I would be furious. I would strongly advise that you do get legal advice and pursue this if you can as your child has been injured through their utter negligence and it’s heartbreaking. You are not being OTT at all and I hope your baby has a speedy recovery xx

This happened to my daughter nearly 15 years ago in Egypt while we were on holiday and using a crèche run by British qualified nannies, offered by the tour operator. We used the tour operator on a no win no fee basis and won. We put the money into my daughters trust fund and she gets it in about 18 months.

Suing was straightforward as we clearly ‘lost’ by returning home early as well as medical costs from the infection out there, out of pocket expenses etc.

You do realise that some people have no choice - single parents, working parents etc? Please don’t make OP or others feel guilty by using “if you really care”. Guess what - we all do really care but some of us have no other choice. Walk in the shoes of others before making such judgey pronouncements

Used = sued, clearly 😀

I would ask for the risk accessment for this outing and what the procedure would be for soiled nappies , because It's not usual to change a child in a public park unless there are facilities . I think a park ten minutes away for an hour is too long for two year olds without a senior member of staff and not checking they were all clean and dry beforehand is basic lack of care.

Not sure about how sueing works, but definitely report to ofsted and social services yourself....this is really shocking neglect and the fact the staff could allow it to happen is abhorrent.
So sorry what a traumatic experience for you and your little girl.Cannot imagine as a fellow parent how you're feeling...I would be absolutely livid.
I hope the staff involved are sacked ASAP, as it is scary how cruel and incompetent they are!

Your poor little girl! I’d question whether the sore came on from a trip to the park for an hour. I wonder if it was for longer & they just didn’t notice?

Raise it with ofsted, they will make sure procedures are put in place to assure it doesn’t happen again. Have they apologised?

Your poor DD. That is awful.

I have worked in a nursery, children were changed before any walks (they tend to be short, local walks) to avoid a soggy nappy. If a nappy needed changing when out we would make our way back swiftly to the setting.

Also there should have been a senior practioner on the walk!

They sound dreadful!

I really hope your DD feels better soon.

Suing sounds like you want some financial recompense, and I’m not really sure what you’d achieve by doing this? If your concern is for your dad, and not for the money, I would definitely report to Ofsted. Ofsted would closely monitor the nursery and do more adhoc checks on them. That would make the nursery take the necessary action to ensure it doesn’t happen again; maybe focusing on areas that allowed this to happen, and stop it happening to other children in the future..

@Seashellies perhaps I should have made my position clearer

This is abuse
It is neglect
I have managed an early years setting in the UK for over 15 years

My response to the op is proportionate and considered
Just because the injury occurred to a minor does not mean it has not caused bodily harm
My intention was simply to support Op in not accepting the abuse of her child as ‘one of those things’ and allowing the nursery to ‘sweep it under carpet’ by simply going along with their response of ‘internal formal warnings’ etc
Because if we do not advocate for our youngest children then who will?!

The relevant authorities should be referred to in order to ensure this does not ever happen again for children in that setting and ensure that this neglect is recorded properly

I would have thought that changing a nappy immediately would be blindingly obvious to anyone with a functioning brain.
Working in a Nursery means changing nappies.

At once.
Not leaving them to chafe and eat away at the sensitive skin of a very young child.

The staff there seem very negligent- Going to a park without nappy changing kit is crazy-

I haven’t seen a pic, but can imagine how sore your poor baby girl must be feeling if a GP prescribed antibiotics for her-

Hope she heals fast.