Another fatal incident at nursery

[TJk86]

I really dislike nurseries for under 3s for many reasons but it seems that they are not even safe anymore these days. Every other week a story like this pops up on the news. To think a reform is needed to make nurseries safer (Better ratios for example)? In this instance, it’s also been decided that no one will bear the consequences of this accident which must be awful for the parents.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15177433/Toddler-allergies-died-following-medical-episode-nursery-given-dairy-yogurt-mistake-parents-say.html

Not sure it's the tax payers' responsibility to fund even more childcare costs.

It’s not privilege always. Some of us made sacrifices and careful contingencies so that our children didn’t need to go nursery until 3.

The issue is that there is a very large cohort of women who do NOT have a choice whether to work or not. Under 3s in nurseries is on the rise and so are statistics of them being harmed and worse.

If there is no tangible benefit to your child being in nursery (under 3) 6-6 most days a week then why are you putting them in?

1. you have no choice due to finances - is the majority of women unfortunately and they should be afforded a choice in my view by way of longer maternity packages and better pay.
2. you prioritise your career over your child which begs the question why have them then.

> it is right that no one should be
An avoidable error killed someone
There should be a HSE prosecution, hopefully for corporate manslaughter

A nephew nut allergy now adult with a child has stopped eating out, visiting friends. He's had too many emergency admissions.

Children will and do die he said.

True, so maybe the funded hours should only be for those who actually really need it. At the moment you do get a lot more people putting their child into nurseries just because they get the free hours. The more people can access it with the same funding in place, the lower the quality will be.

@Waitingfordoggo we couldn’t find a childminder we liked and I have a job that I couldn’t be flexible around if, say, childminder was ill

I also knew someone whose childminder tied them to a chair with high chair straps whilst they tended to younger kids - often the child was left tied up when “naughty” or just for convenience - strapped in and left watching tv. I was terrified of something like that happening. How would you know?

No setting is perfect - where humans are involved things can go wrong. But you do expect the childcare setting will care for the child as well as you would be able to - forgetting one of your children has a lethal dairy allergy is unlikely. The childcare setting doesn’t have an excuse.

I can’t speak for nurseries but the children with allergies at our school each had their own.
The school had 2 and all staff from the Head to the caretaker attended a training course on school premises on how to use them.

True that is pointless for us to speculate but I was more pointing out that it might not have made a difference here. There were clearly a whole series of awful errors as @BayOfBucket describes.

Yes and could happen to a child of any age as a food allergy.

No, they died because they were given something they were known to be allergic to. Their allergy didn't somehow kill them by itself.

Being low paid doesn't excuse this level of negligence.

Well I agree for most women it is the first option. I also have a career that I could not go back to with a break of longer than a year. I couldn’t really afford to not work for three years, but I really couldn’t afford to not go back to the job I had trained in (for reasons that were more than financial yes). I was able to work LTFT, but again, recognise that was a massive privilege to take such a huge financial hit.

I also recognise that some women really value their careers, not necessarily above their children but they value the balance of having a career and a family. I think that’s ok too.

Obviously noone set out to hurt this child BUT there has been a catastrophic disaster in terms of how the nursery operate as all staff should have known of any allergies. There will have been child records detailing any allergy and all staff should have been trained and privy to such information.

It is a huge safeguarding fail and the nursery should be held accountable. It was not an 'honest mistake'. It was completely avoidable. How devastating for the parents. I would be shouting from the rooftops as well.

Only working parents can access the free hours s for U3s.

Tragic accidents can happen anywhere. Nurseries are largely very safe.

@TJk86 This is nothing to do with people who use nurseries under 3 and you are wrong for mentioning that because it is judgemental and unhelpful.

I don't understand your response to the post you quoted.

How would it be decided who actually really needs it though?

Only those who work? If so, what about those where one parent doesn't financially need to work?

If only those who work, what about the benefits showed to 2 year olds who access the 15 free hours they wouldn't otherwise get?

Good point. Every child that dies in these circumstances is a tragedy, but let's not sensationalise without knowing the full picture.

Oh wow, absolutely fucking not.

The nurseries i worked in, ALL OF THEM, knew who our kids were with allergies, we knew what they could/couldn't have, we kept their eating environment healthy and safe, it was absolute TOP priority at meal times to monitor, check, and double check what they were given.

This was NOT an accident. It was negligence, and i will not accept any other explanation, and nor should the parents. there are ZERO excuses for this. ZERO.

Those poor parents.
That nursery ought to be ashamed and prosecuted.

I would argue that the bosses are the ones who need to take responsibility (and if they cannot afford to pay for a good number of good staff then they should do the right thing and close their doors because a closed nursery is better than a nursery with dead toddlers).

If staff have been properly trained and ignored clear instructions and procedures then it is possible that there should be personal liability for the staff members.

HGV drivers who kill other road users should be let off because HGV wages aren't particularly high any more.

@BluntPlumHam

what sacrifices and careful contingencies did you make that you think other parents didnt make?

Can people stop blaming poor pay? If you think being paid peanuts means you only half ass your job, you shouldn't be anywhere near the care of the vulnerable.

Stop making fucking excuses. i was an apprentice at one point, being paid £50 a week to work a 35hr week, and it did not mean i cared any less for the kids than the staff on full wages.

The child died because someone gave him something that the child was known to be allergic to. It's not like he choked or fell over and hit his head. If he hadnt been given the yogurt he wouldn't have died. It's not like he snatched it from another child, right? He was given the yogurt. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a nursery to not give a child something they have been informed could cause an allergic reaction.

I'm not saying that anyone should be prosecuted but I am saying that this is a death that could have been and should have been avoided. And I really hope that even if the police doesn't take further action I hope someone like ofsted will make sure that lessons are learnt and better systems are implemented.

Ex Nusery Nurse here, the staff were useless (even seniors), managers used to make excuses for abusive parents, dairy intolerant children were given dairy. Multiple more scenarios I could go in to. It was awful, so many fuck ups and i’m shocked a child hasn’t died or they haven’t been closed down yet at the setting I worked at.