Bosses at Prestwick After School Care Service Day Care of Children have been told to beef up their background checks on the staff they employ.
Ayrshire Live can reveal that ‘not all staff’ had been ‘safely recruited’ prior to starting within the service.
The findings come from the Care Inspectorate who made an unannounced visit to the service in November.
The care scrutiny body discovered that some written references were “not in place” and PVG checks (Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme) had “not always been returned before new staff were deployed within the service.”
And according to the Care Inspectorate this created a “potential risk” to children.
Now the centre has been told to ensure all staff are “recruited safely” in line with safer recruitment guidance.
In the wake of the November inspection the centre was graded ‘adequate’ across three quality indicators and ‘weak’ across one other.
Among the key messages staff were “warm, kind and caring” towards children. And the children were “actively involved” in leading their play.
However, the service was also told to “further develop” children’s personal plans to ensure they “identify children’s individual needs.”
To support children’s health and wellbeing, the service should also “improve the snack time experience.”
In relation to supporting children’s wellbeing, the service “must ensure” that children have access to “sufficient space” to meet their care and they “must always comply” with the conditions set out on their certificate of registration.
And to keep children safe, the service must ensure staff are “recruited safely,” while effective quality assurance systems “should be developed and implemented” to support positive outcomes for children.
Staff deployment should be “improved” too, in order to enhance children’s play experiences and help keep them safe.
Prestwick After School Care is a day care of children’s service which provide breakfast club provision from Glenburn Primary School and an after school care provision from Prestwick Community Centre. The service is registered to provide a care service to a maximum of 65 children aged 3 years to those attending primary school, in Prestwick Community Centre, Caerlaverock Road.
The service is provided by Prestwick After School Care Service.
An extract from the Care Inspectorate report said: “Staff were warm, kind and caring. They responded to children’s needs using nurturing approaches, ensuring children felt emotionally safe and secure.”
The report also said staff did not always have access to “sufficient information” to support children’s health, care and wellbeing. Enrolment forms were “incomplete” and some personal plans “did not identify” individual needs and how these would be supported. As a result, staff were “not fully aware” of how to meet the individual needs of children in their care.
Snack times were also an issue with the report noting: “During snack time, staff were focussed on tasks and did not sit alongside children to supervise or promote a sociable experience. This meant that children did not experience a safe, relaxed, and sociable snack time.”
And whilst children’s medication was stored securely, emergency medication was “not easily accessible.” This had the potential to create a delay in treating children’s medical needs, putting them “at risk.”
The processes for safeguarding and protecting children from harm were “not robust” and required to be improved too.
In the quality indicators relating to care, play and learning, setting and staff team, these were all graded as ‘adequate.’
However, leadership at the service was graded ‘weak.’
Don’t miss the latest Ayrshire headlines –sign up to our free daily newsletter