Creche hit by TB given award

ONE of two creches hit by a TB outbreak earlier this year has received a prestigious award for maintaining consistently high standards.

Nurture Childcare and Early Learning Centre in Douglas, Cork city, was awarded the National Children’s Nurseries Association (NCNA) and Northern Ireland Preschool Playgroup Association (NIPPA) All Ireland Centre of Excellence Award.

The first private full-day childcare centre in Cork to receive the award, director Éadaoin Glynn said it acknowledged their commitment to quality care.

“We believe that quality childcare can positively influence children’s earliest experiences and play a vital role in their future development in partnership with their families,” Ms Glynn said.

The good news comes at the end of a difficult few months for Nurture after 12 children and two staff members were diagnosed with TB at the facility between March and May of this year. This was in addition to six child cases of TB at a second creche — Panda Paws in Little Island, Co Cork, where one staff member was also diagnosed. The Panda Paws worker, diagnosed on March 15, was the first (index case) of 21 cases spread over both creches. The index case had previously worked at Nurture Childcare.

No additional cases have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre since May 11, leaving public health officials reasonably confident that the outbreak is under control.

However, a number of children at both creches diagnosed with latent TB remain on a lengthy course of antibiotics to prevent the development of full-blown TB.

Children with TB are not contagious.

In all, more than 300 children and adults were screened at both creches.

Yesterday Ms Glynn said the Nurture team had been working in partnership with the NCNA on bringing all aspects of the centre to exceptionally high levels of quality, far exceeding regulatory requirements, for over 18 months.

“The assessment was made after the outbreak of TB and the NCNA validation team considered Nurture had dealt appropriately and correctly with the matter,” Ms Glynn said.

Ms Glynn said the curriculum at Nurture “encourages children to think, reason, question, experiment and explore”.

“Nurture believes that warm relationships are fundamental to meeting the young child’s need for love, security, recognition and encouragement,” she said.