Daughter with allergies give cheese at nursery

[AllergyMumma]

My 3 year old daughter suffers from severe allergies to: milk, eggs, nuts, peanuts, sesame, lentil and penicillin.

She recently started nursery last month and despite the nursery reassuring me that they look after children with allergies all the time and have procedures in place (red placemat) to prevent exposure to allergens and cross contamination. She was given cheese by one of the members of staff, which resulted in a severe anaphylactic shock where she couldn't breath and had to be administered her epi pen. An ambulance was called and thankfully she's ok now, but the whole ordeal has been traumatic.

I'm so angry with the nursery for doing this, and the way they have dealt with this has been appalling. The nursery branch director seems to be evading our questions regarding what happened to our child that day, despite it being almost a week since it happened. It's quite a large chain of nurseries and I imagine there are some politics involved but I just want some answers as to what happened and to ensure this never happens again.

No one from the nursery have even bothered to call me this week to check how my daughter is doing. I haven't even received an apology. We have decided to take her out of this nursery as we have completely lost trust in them ad their lack of concern really worries me.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I've bee feeling quite down and depressed about all of this.. Any advice on what I should do would be much appreciated x

Changing nurseries is the best you can do. You've lost trust , and it would be really hard to get it back plus it's not worth the risk.

However, You should definitely be told exactly what happened (miscommunication,accident, mistaken identity etc.) and how do they plan to stop it from happening again. Surely there is an incident report considering your DD needed an epi and then the ambulance called. Ofc an apology should be the least they could do .
Email them and keep a paper trail of what you're asking,when,is there an investigation etc.

If nothing is forthcoming, you could ask for a SAR in which they have a set timeline to send you all the info and records they have about your daughter.

Change nurseries. Their response is unacceptable.

One of my children has food allergies and intolerance. Their nursery were supportive. Once my child took an item of food he cannot have, thankfully 1 that they are intolerant to and not allergic (not his usual carers working that day) and the nursery phoned me instantly. They took full responsibility and made changes to their system with staff, informing me throughout the process.

There really is no excuse for their attitude.

It’s a bit worrying that they have no explanation of what actually happened - even something like ‘x grabbed a piece of cheese and touched it to her mouth before a staff member could intervene.’

At my last preschool we had a staff member at every second table sitting with the children while another staff member served. All the children with dietary needs sat at one table around the member of staff and their placemats would say something like ‘ANNA - NO DAIRY, NO NUTS.’ They also had their own plates to ensure there was no confusion between dishing up and serving.’

Of course these things can happen but it sounds like you don’t even have confirmation that it was an accident?

On the day it happened I was first told cheese accidentally got in her bowl and they weren't sure how it got there, and later when my husband called they told him she was given cheese by a member of staff. I'm really concerned why we were told two completely different stories. I was told the member of staff 'was not thinking' but I really need more answers as to how this could happen with all the procedures they have in place.

I was told an internal investigation is taking place and I will get a copy of the report soon...but I don't believe I should have to wait for a report to know basic answers to questions I have about what happened to my child.

I have never heard of a SAR, thank you will look into this..

Move nursery’s. Ask a lot of questions about how they can provide ensure this won’t happen.

I will be honest, from the nursery settings I know of that does seem like a list of allergies that could be difficult manage 100% due to kids throwing food around, swapping, dipping their hands everywhere. It’s likely to require 1:1 support during food times. Is a nanny an option?

Apparently they do have a 'placemats procedure' with different colour placemats and pictures of the child on the placemat with a list of their allergies. But I'm not sure what can be done about a member of staff who ignores the procedures and literally hands the child the food..surely this is negligence?

Sorry I should also mention my daughter was apparently sitting on a table with another child with allergies (I think lactose intolerant) an d there was one member of staff supervising..I wonder if she handed my daughter lactose free cheese assuming it was dairy free. These are the kind of questions I have been asking an d the manager seems to be avoiding.

I'm so sorry thjs happened, this is my worst nightmare. My son is severely allergic to dairy, egg, legumes, fish, nuts & sesame.
He's 2 and we toured a nursery last week and I just didn't feel reassured at all. You could just tell the staff didn't get the severity of his allergies. The owner was showing me the menu and listing all the snacks produly and I was looking at her like "I literally just listed his allergies, why are you telling me about petit filous, lasagne and humous?".
I think I'd need him to have one on one care but, even then, I don't think I'd trust anyone given how many allergies he has.
At this point, we're likely going to keep him home until school when he's more aware of his allergies and can self advocate.
We're lucky I can work from home in the evenings and child care isn't a necessity.
It's very tough and I hope your little one is doing a lot better now.

Have they or you reported the incident to Ofsted? That would be worth doing. Their safety measures failed, they need to be accountable to that.

@AllergyMumma

Apparently they do have a 'placemats procedure' with different colour placemats and pictures of the child on the placemat with a list of their allergies. But I'm not sure what can be done about a member of staff who ignores the procedures and literally hands the child the food..surely this is negligence?

That might not necessarily be the case. It could've been a new member of staff that wasn't trained properly/made aware of who has what, or she mistook one child for another. Or worse , they were shortstaffed and no one was properly supervising and your daughter took the cheese . Either way it sounds like they're covering their arses, which again doesn't help with building trust.

I had to quit my job to look after her as she had so many allergies and I didn't trust anyone to look after her when she was a baby. She's almost 4 now and I really wanted her to go to nursery to socialise with other children (she's an only child) and to prepare her for school next year. I did extensive research into the best nurseries in my area, I did a tour where I was shown the 'placemats procedure' etc and reassured. A risk assessment was completed and I filled in an action plan of what the nursery should do in the event of an emergency.

I'm just so disappointed, just over a month later she's already been let down by her nursery and staff I trusted to look after her. I'm just feeling so sorry for her that she's missing out on nursery because she has so may allergies, its not her fault.

It was actually a regular member of staff who I've met many times before, I actually spoke to her a week ago she warned me to be careful of a party bag we were given as it contained chocolate she's well aware of her allergies

It does feel like they are covering their arses and it's just so frustrating because I what to know what happened to my child.

By the way I have contacted Ofsted and my local councils child protective team as I felt I was getting nowhere with the nursery. Is there anyone else I should contact?

Formal complaint to head of the chain of nurseries - straight to the top.
Formal complaint to Ofsted.
State everything you were told with dates and times if possible and the conflicting stories you were told. They need to give you a full account of what happened and the reason for failure.
The fact that your dc is anaphylactic, meant that they put your child’s life at risk and is a major safeguarding issue - do not pull any punches.

I have 2 allergic dc, and it has happened to both of them in school and nursery. I regret not going nuclear at the time and wish I had pushed things further. My children are very lucky not to be anaphylactic but I think about others who are, and now go out of my way to explain that a mistake could put someone’s life in danger.

I am glad your dd is ok now. Keep pushing for answers.

Move to another nursery. They sound very negligent. I wouldn't feel my child was in safe hands there.

Yes, I will make a formal complaint to the head of the chain of nurseries thats a good call. I did get in touch with the area manager who seems to be quite apologetic and has offered to help me get answers from the branch manager.

I don't like to make a 'fuss' at the beginning of the week I was hoping to sort this out directly with the branch manager. But as the week has gone on and I still don 't have any answers I've felt the need to escalate. To be honest I'm getting angrier every day.

DSA has an egg allergy and we had two incidents. One a nursery when he was two and once at preschool when he was 4.

The first one, DS was given a cake by another child and took a bite before a member of staff could stop him. The nursery phoned me straightaway. All the children had a talk on while it's nice they share some children couldn't eat certain food as it makes them sick. They also changed the procedures around looking after children with allergies so there was closer supervision once they had their food. I was kept informed the whole time and they took it very seriously.

At preschool, they were making cakes with egg whites. When I picked DS up I was given the cake, I asked the member of staff how they made it without egg whites. She was very dismissive, kept saying it's fine, it's only egg whites not the egg. I kept explaining he couldn't have any egg, yolk or white. We went around in circles for ages until I had enough and left. First thing the next day I went straight to the manager's office. She was horrified and assured me she would deal with it. Apologies profusely. She phoned me again a couple of hours later saying that she spoke to the member of staff (who was quite new) and off the back they were running mandatory allergy sessions for all staff. First one was that evening after work. The member of staff was being monitored. She just couldn't get allergies and their severity and was let go a few weeks later.

Wow, that is so shocking! Did they ever get back about what happened? The avoidance just makes it worse.

Hi, almost 3 weeks later we got a copy of the internal investigation, which outlined everything that happened, findings etc. The nursery made many failings and it was really sad to read how my daughter was let down by those who were supposed to be looking after her.

I'm happy to say she's at a new nursery now, they have been so patient with me and fingers crossed they can keep her safe. She now has packed lunches and sits at a separate table at lunch. She wears a special bracelet and lanyard with details of what to do in an emergency.

Here are the links incase they can help anyone else:
Bracelet: www.allergylifestyle.com/shop/allergy-shop/kids-allergy-wristbands/multi-allergy-wristbands-with-6-charms/
Lanyard: www.zazzle.co.uk/custom_photo_kids_allergy_alert_icoe_id_badge-256690774329461742