Nursery refusing care due to allergy ?

[OwlyLady]

Hello,

Over the weekend we discovered our DS is allergic to fish (He's in process of being weaned). We ended up in hospital as he was struggling to breath but he managed to recover swiftly on his own without any medical intervention. The DR gave us some prescribed Piriton and an epi-pen (just in case but he said he doubts we would ever need it) along with an Allergy Action Plan to give to nursery.

I went into nursery early the day DS was due and informed the office manager of the incident. She made me fill out a load of forms then happily accepted DS. I left them with the required medication.

Half hour later I received a phone call from nursery saying I had to collect DS as it was Fish Day and they didn't feel comfortable with him there. They claimed I had to take DS to my GP and have them prescribe the medicine and the hospital wasn't sufficient.

I completed this and sent them photos along with an email outlining my concerns and confusion over how they are treating his allergy. They replied saying this still was sufficient as they weren't happy with the prescription labels. (Not sure what they wanted?) My GP was very confused by Nursery's behaviour and couldn't assist any further.

I explained all this and now they have turned around and said it is actually because they do not have qualified staff to deal with allergies and so will not be able to take DS on until they have obtained this.

We have said we will look for new care providers now but where does this leave me with the nursery fees I have paid up front for next couple weeks? Also is it right for a nursery to be unable to deal with all needs? Especially when they claim on their website to be "all inclusive"?

OP - I believe that your child's allergy may count as a disability, in which case the nursery is obliged to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate your child's additional needs.

All early years childcare providers must meet the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice. Did you speak to the nursery's SENCO?

If you've found somewhere else, this may all be irrelevant. However, I would escalate this as I'd be concerned that this nursery may be discriminating in other areas.

You asked the day before but you obviously asked the wrong person
You asked a member of staff on their day off and then you discussed it with the office manager
Neither of them was the right person to discuss it with

I've found a childminder now who has already the skills to look after his allergy. She looks after a little girl with a fish allergy too. 0.4% of the population has a fish allergy so not really that rare. Surprised that they refused to take him because of that and failed to put into action a way they could care for him in the future.

Shocking how nursery staff do not know their own Nursery's policies. I was never given the impression that they was unsure or was even aware that an allergy was an issue. As previously stated it was also the misleading information and goose chase they sent me on. As if they wanted me to leave the nursery on my own will rather than them directly turn around and refuse us.

That is what happened in the end and thus we have received a full refund.

Works out better for us anyway as now we have a child minder who follows BLW and NHS guidelines on preparing formula. (This nursery doesn't heat the formula up to the recommended 70 Celsius. I had to buy the prepared bottles to over come my worry about that)

It sounds like you've found a solution that suits you better all round.