Nurseries launch infection control plans as swine flu cases rise

About 100 children attend the Ladybird pre-five centre. Ravenscraig Primary School and an after-school club in Greenock were also closed for seven days.

The news comes as nurseries have been putting infection control plans in place amid fears of the swine flu outbreak spreading to early years settings.

Three branches of Noah's Ark Nursery Schools, run by Dolphin School in Battersea, London, closed on 5 May as a precautionary measure following a diagnosis of the virus in two pupils at the school.
Dolphin, an independent primary school, said that the two children had mild symptoms and were responding well to treatment. They had had close contact with a previously confirmed case who had returned from the United States.
The school's board of governors decided to close the school as a 'precautionary measure' because of Dolphin's close links with other south London schools.
In a statement, the school said, 'The same rationale has been used in the closure of Noah's Ark Nursery schools, which Dolphin runs. This time, it is as a result of their close connection with Dolphin School, and the overlap of siblings and staff.'
Asquith Nurseries, which has four settings in south London near to two of the schools closed where cases had been diagnosed, said a major incident plan rehearsal was taking place, with a number of infection limitation processes at all settings.
Chris West, head of the major incident team, said controls had been heightened at Asquith's Dulwich and Peckham nurseries, because of their proximity to Alleyn's School and at the Battersea and Putney nurseries, which are near to Dolphin School.
Action included restricting movement of staff between nurseries, stopping deliveries into any of the nurseries except for essential maintenance, and cancelling meetings where nursery or support staff would come into contact with staff members from other sites, so that effectively all sites were quarantined.
Asquith sent a text message to all parents last week, advising them of the incident plan.
Mr West said, 'One of our parents is attached to the Alleyn's school and both the parent and our nursery manager agreed the child would remain at home for the period of the school closure and would continue to monitor their symptoms. When we advised all our Dulwich parents we offered them the choice of either leaving their child at the nursery with all the precautions in place, or taking their child home and we would not charge them for the day.
'Our number one priority is, at all times, the health and wellbeing of our children, staff and parents. I am very pleased to say that both the parent and the child are still extremely well.'
Hayley Mead, manager of Clever Clogs nursery in Hartlepool, said the nursery had asked parents to let them know if they had travelled to Mexico or the United States recently.
The nursery has also reviewed its infection control practices and made staff aware of symptoms to look out for, but Ms Mead said it had not received any specific information on infection control from the local authority since the flu outbreak.
'I think there should be more advice for early years settings about what we should be doing,' she said. 'I think because there haven't been any cases up here yet, parents don't seem to be worrying.'
She added, 'We're encouraging the children to make sure they wash their hands properly with soap and we have more disposable tissues and bins with lids.'