An Ayrshire children’s nursery has been given the thumbs-up by the Care Inspectorate — despite concerns over its infection control practices.
Pine Trees Nursery, in Ayr Road, Prestwick, was rated as ‘good’ across three quality indicators following an inspection last month.
The quality of care, staffing and management and leadership were all rated ‘good’ but the nursery’s infection control practices flagged up issues.
The Care Inspectorate said: “We were not satisfied that the service had appropriate infection control procedures in place to support a safe environment for staff and children in relation to Covid-19.
"We observed that some edible materials and a cooking appliance was stored within a nappy changing area, some cleaning arrangements for outdoor resources and the outdoor classroom were ineffective and that staff needed to be more vigilant about effective use of face coverings to prevent the spread of infection.”
The Care Inspectorate has recommended that management ensure a cleanliness check is completed every day prior to children arriving in compliance with Health Protection Scotland guidance and that staff implementing the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 best practice guidance is “monitored.”
The Care Inspectorate also noted “inconsistencies with staff recordings” of children’s personal plans.
The report said: “Not all plans identified the strategies in place to support children’s individual needs and where risk assessments had been developed for individual children these did not consistently contain an appropriate level of information.”
Management must now ensure that personal plans and risk assessments are “monitored more robustly.”
The report goes on: “We audited medication that was being stored on the premises and found that the medication procedures should be reviewed and updated in line with Care Inspectorate’s guidance. We found that for one child with allergies there was no medication on the premises and that the storage of medication for children attending the upstairs playroom had the potential to delay medical treatment as medication was stored downstairs.
“We have asked that where the management team have taken the decision to store children’s emergency medication in this way, that a risk assessment is developed and parents are consulted. This will ensure children’s health needs are met safely.”
The Care Inspectorate noted that children at the nursery were “relaxed, happy and settled” and that organisation received 52 responses from a survey of parents who “spoke positively” about the experiences they had using the nursery.
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