A Glasgow nursery and day care centre got the lowest inspection rating after it was ordered to urgently bring in more staff to “keep children safe.”
The Nitshill service ended up using a childcare agency to get staff after inspectors asked for “immediate action.”
Inspectors found adults ended up looking after children at Southside Daycare even though they were employed to carry out other roles - as there were too few workers on site.
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A Care Inspectorate Report published this week gave the service the lowest rating of ‘unsatisfactory’ for ‘leadership’ and ‘staff team’ with a score of 1 out of 6.
The service, run by Pollok Enterprise Trust in partnership with the council, was rated ‘adequate’ for setting and ‘weak’ for care, play and learning.
It can cater for up to 92 children up to the age of five including babies and 20 primary school children at its base at Woodhead Road.
Commenting on the staff team, the Care Inspectorate Report said: “We found significant weakness, which compromised children’s wellbeing needs. We issued a letter of serious concern as urgent improvements were required.”
It said “established staff members struggled at times to respond to the demands of all the children who needed their support.”
The report said due to the staffing issues, kids aged two to three and those aged three to five were looked after in the same “large playroom.”
The report said inspectors would not “conclude” their November inspection until Southside Daycare “took action to ensure there is always enough staff in place to keep children safe." The report said workers must be deployed to reflect the “number and needs” of youngsters.
Southside Daycare managed to get temporary staff through a childcare agency before the inspectors left according to the report.
The service said the issues have now been dealt with.
A Southside Daycare spokesperson said: “I can confirm that since the Care Inspectorate inspection completed on 18th November that all areas of concern have been actioned and we are confident that the Care Inspectorate concerns have been addressed.”
Commenting on why the nursery had ended up with too few workers, the Care Inspectorate report said the number of staff was reduced following a drop in the number of children.
It added: “A recent increase in demand for the nursery meant there were insufficient staff employed.”
The Care Inspectorate set out a number of requirements to be carried out including recruiting more childcare staff by January 23.
It said the provider should “ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent persons are working in the care service in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, welfare and safety of service users.”
Inspectors also pointed out the positives in the facility saying “families felt welcomed.”
Their report said: “Children benefited from warm, caring relationships with adults who were part of the established team.”
It added: “The nursery manager was committed to restoring a consistent staff team and taking forward improvements.”
The report also put forward a number of areas for improvement as well as requirements.
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