A Perthshire nursery where a toddler managed to escape has been slammed in a damning report.
Two-year-old Michael McGivern got out of the garden area of Humpty Dumpty Early Years Care Centre in Rattray, Blairgowrie, at around 10am on September 15 and was later rescued by a member of the nursery’s staff on a pavement in High Street.
Michael’s parents, Brendan McGivern (30) and Nicola Shepherd (29), of Davie Park Place, Rattray, Blairgowrie, were angry at what they saw as lack of security at the nursery and its apparent failure to accept blame.
They officially complained to the Care Inspectorate about the incident and all their complaints have been upheld. The nursery has been told to take action immediately.
The Care Inspectorate established that nursery staff agreed that a ”lapse in supervision” had contributed to Michael being able to escape the nursery unobserved.
It found that risk assessments of the nursery garden failed to recognise some of the challenges faced in supervising it. This included instances when one member of staff had to leave the area to escort children to the toilet, leaving only two staff.
The report also states there had been two previous incidents where Michael McGivern could not be located for short periods of time.
The Care Inspectorate stated this should have been recorded in Michael’s personal plan and a procedure written detailing his supervision, but this was not in place.
In addition, the Care Inspectorate found the responsibility for checking the security of areas had not been identified and that there was a failure to identify how to manage the forest and the garden risk assessments. There was no information on risk assessments.
Humpty Dumpty Early Years Care Centre’s internal investigation concluded that staff were not at fault for the incident, but the Care Inspectorate found risk assessments were not robust and potential hazards regarding outdoor areas had not been fully identified.
The nursery has been told to introduce a system which formally records all safety checks which are carried out prior to children accessing outdoor play areas and that management and staff must ensure that children’s personal plans are in place to support children. These should be completed in consultation with parents and professionals.
And it has just under a month to ensure that a rigorous risk assessment is completed in relation to the security of the nursery and all findings actioned. Staff must also be trained to effectively risk assess.
Ms Shepherd told The Courier: ”The Care Inspectorate have upheld all our complaints, so I’m really happy. The nursery never accepted responsibility for this they said they weren’t to blame. It was as if it never happened. The report also questioned the internal management fully.
”Obviously, there were not enough safety measures in place when this happened and there should have been. The nursery now have a timescale to introduce security and act on this report.”
A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate said: ”The Care Inspectorate will be following up this issue with the service to ensure that these requirements are met and that improvements are maintained so that children at the nursery are kept protected.”
Karen Thorburn, Humpty Dumpty Early Years Care Centre manager, declined to comment on the report.