The Secret Garden nursery, based in Letham, Fife, was told by the Care Commission, on the advice of Health Protection Scotland, that it must provide water and soap for children to wash their hands to meet health and safety regulations. But the nursery said it was impractical as they have no base camp or access to running water (News, 27 August).
Last week the Care Commission overturned the requirement and told the nursery it can continue to operate as normal.
To celebrate the news, Ronnie Hill, director of children's services for the Care Commission, chief executive Jacqui Roberts, and Iain Smith, MSP for North East Fife, met with the children and the Secret Garden Outdoor Nurseries founder and care manager Cathy Bache this week.
Ms Bache said, 'It's a great relief to know that we can carry on allowing the children to play where they want in the woods. And I hope this decision will encourage more early years providers to take their children into the great outdoors.
'The Care Commission has really engaged with us about this issue, visiting us in the woods, meeting parents, considering expert evidence we've collected and discussing ways forward with us.'
As part of an agreement, the nursery must adhere to ten points outlined by the Care Commission. These include:
- using running water to wash children's hands when available
- asking parents to sign a disclaimer to say they are satisfied with the nursery's hand hygiene practices
- following an infection prevention and control risk assessment which states that the nursery must not visit farms or come into contact with livestock.
In a letter to the Secret Garden outlining the ten points, Mr Hill said, 'Should the measures be put into place consistently by the Secret Garden, this would represent an improvement to the practice which was observed to be being used by the service when we last inspected.'
Despite this, the nursery is still being grouped with farms, petting farms and zoos by Health Protection Scotland, which means it can only achieve a maximum rating of level 3 - adequate - for infection control in its Care Commission inspection.
A spokesperson for Health Protection Scotland said, 'HPS fully supports children being able to play and learn outdoors. It is important to balance this alongside the need for appropriate hand hygiene, which is recognised internationally as being crucial in the prevention and control of infections.
'Hand washing using soap and water is the only hand hygiene method capable of removing certain potentially dangerous bacteria. Scotland's national hand hygiene campaign, "Germs: Wash your hands of them", has developed a pack for children between the ages of three and six which includes materials to encourage them to make handwashing part of their everyday practice.'
