Child died after choking on apple in nursery, inquest hears
During the two-day hearing the inquest heard the baby’s mother, Sharon Hollick, complained about the standard of care her daughter had been receiving just days before her death.
She told the inquest some staff at Just Learning nursery near her home in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, did not follow her instructions and appeared “more concerned about the care of the room than care of the children”.
She said she had told nursery manager, Julie Haynes, that her daughter Georgia should be seated in a high chair while eating after finding her sitting on the floor of the nursery among squashed strawberries four days before she died.
“Georgie was soaking wet and she had been feeding herself,” Mrs Hollick told the inquest. “I told the nursery manager the next morning that I was not happy with the level of care and that I expected Georgia to be placed in a high chair.”
The inquest heard from three members of staff who had been looking after Georgia the day she died.
None had first-aid qualifications. One was a qualified nursery nurse and another had yet to complete her childcare qualifications and couldn’t work on her own because she was waiting for a police check to come through. The third had first worked as a kitchen assistant at the nursery before moving to look after the children, and had completed an in-house nursery course.
The inquest heard there were qualified first-aiders in the building at the time of the incident.
It is not the first time the Just Learning nursery in Cambourne has been involved in a major inquiry into its standards of care.
An investigation was launched after a 15-month-old girl suffered a broken arm in September 2004, but charges of cruelty against three members of staff were dropped.
Ms Hollick told the inquest that when she looked around the nursery while pregnant she was assured that those three members of staff would not be working at the nursery when her children started there.
“I later found out that one of those members of staff was working at the nursery,” she said. “I wouldn’t have allowed my children to be there had I known one of these members of staff would be looking after my children.”
The nursery, one of a British national chain, was closed for investigation after Georgia’s death.
Britain’s Office for Standards in Education suspended the nursery’s registration as a result of Georgia’s death, but inspectors allowed it to reopen after managers agreed to “policy and procedure reviews”.
Jonathan Bell, managing director of Just Learning, said: “We want to place on record the sadness felt by everyone at the nursery.
“Georgia and her family are never far from our thoughts and we continue to extend our sympathy to them.”
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