An Aberdeen nursery manager has been issued with a formal warning after a baby boy was burned by bleach.
One-year-old Blake Nilssen suffered second-degree burns after toppling an unattended cleaning bucket with hot water at Little Dreams Nursery on November 4 last year.
The nursery on Bon Accord Street in Aberdeen has faced criticism for its handling of the situation in which staff failed to call 999.
Blake’s parents were left to take him screaming to hospital themselves and said the incident showed “blatant negligence”.
Investigations launched following the incident found nursery manager Nicola Park failed to call an ambulance for Blake after he was burned by bleach and boiling water.
Ms Park has 12 years of experience working as a manager in childcare settings, which the Scottish Social Services Council branded “all the more concerning”.
‘Child was experiencing significant distress’
The watchdog found the failure to call an ambulance contributed to the child suffering a “prolonged period of emotional and physical harm”.
It was found that Ms Park should have known the toddler needed “urgent” treatment and advice should have been sought.
Investigators decided Ms Park’s fitness to practice has been impaired because of her misconduct, and so a warning has been placed on her registration for three years.
The report read: “The child was experiencing significant distress as a result of being burned. Having been made aware of the circumstances of the accident, you should have known the child would require urgent medical treatment and should either have directed a member of staff to call an ambulance or called one yourself so the child’s injuries could be treated by medical professionals as soon as possible.
“Advice could have been sought from emergency services about how best to support the child while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
“Your failure to call an ambulance would likely have contributed to the child suffering a prolonged period of emotional and physical harm, which could have been prevented if an ambulance had been called immediately.
“You have 12 years of experience working in a managerial role in a childcare setting, making the failure to call an ambulance all the more concerning.”
‘Shock took over’
Ms Park acknowledged she should have called an ambulance and failed to do so.
She told investigators that “shock took over” as she had never dealt with this type of incident before.
The SSSC says it has been reassured that Ms Park has taken steps to update all of the nursery’s policies and procedures following the incident, including risk assessments and other documentation.
Staff members have been made aware of the correct steps to take in an emergency and Ms Park’s employer is confident she would act differently if another serious incident happened again.
The SSSC found Ms Park to be “remorseful” but has given her a warning for three years to ensure similar behaviour is not repeated leading to other vulnerable children being placed at risk of serious harm.
The watchdog said Ms Park should have taken control of the situation and ensured the correct procedures were followed.
However, they have said concerns about her continuing to work with vulnerable children have been “reduced” after Ms Park advised she will continue taking steps to ensure nothing similar happens again in future.
Further issues with supervision
Following an inspection weeks after the incident, the Care Inspectorate branded the childcare services as weak and found further issues with child supervision and poor infection control.
While the nursery met the watchdog’s requirements at a later inspection in February, the manager Nicola Park has now been issued with a formal warning.
In the last published inspection on the nursery in September this year, the Care Inspectorate rated the care provider as adequate.
This was mainly due to limited opportunities in learning and play, frequent staff changes affecting relationships and improvements needed with staff self-evaluation.
Conversation