Guest Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 HI we have had one child in our nursery who has had confirmed swine flu, we also have four parents (both husband and wife sets) and one member of staff's mum who has had swine flu. (one parent came into nursery yesterday with swine flu to drop her child off, she was promptly asked to leave!!!!! (ther parents that is) there is like no guidance on what to do re the children. the doctors are saying that if children are symptom free then they should come to nursery. one parent has become angry at the fact that children are coming into nursery when there parents have swine flu.... what do we do.... we are kind of working on the theory that one in three may get it so we should just get on with it..... but i am not happy that there is no guidance for day nurseries re what to do when swine flu reaches you. i heard on the news today that if swine flu is still aorund in september the government is pressing for schools not to open.... i wonder why then that day nurseries can stay open..... how are you all coping..... and then my next question is we are having a NDNA meeting at our nursery tonight, would you inform people ahead of time that we have had swine flu in nursery (last child case went home ill last wednesday) before they come to the nursery. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 i find it all confusing too - there seems to be little guidance on what to do and when. we had a child last week who displayed symptoms of swine flu over the weekend and therefore didnt come into pre-school -he was given tamiflu as had symptoms of it but we later found out he didnt have it - however by then we had sent out all the letters etc and then had parents moaning ,wanting to know which child it was, whether their child had been in with this child - we also had one parent withdraw their child as didnt want them to get swine flu - even though he carried on staying with his child minder who had children at local school that had confirmed cases of swine flu ! during this time we spoke to our development worker who advised us on what to do but i dont know if she would be of any help if it came to staff and lots of children actually having it - do we need to shut/stay open / what if we dont have enough staff/children to make session viable - can we claim nursery funding if we need/are told to shut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valp59 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Check out this website http://www.hpa.org.uk It has some good information including a leaflet (July 2009) for parents (link below) informing them why schools are not closing. http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1247125501005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 You have my full sympathy - having 'been there done this' three weeks ago. I took guidance from the HPA.......I have already said in another thread ....that I logged my 'phone calls, emails and kept copies of all letters..... If I have understood this correctly...it is not the Government that are suggesting schools should be closed in the autumn but two scientists who have suggested this could stop the spread by 45%...as I understand it - Ed Balls has said this won't be happening......I can't see how it could - can you imagine the economic fallout from that....... My husband is convinced that the media are really using Swine Flu to fill their papers and news programmes because there isn't a lot of news in the summer.... Good luck with it all - I found it all extremely stressful - as an owner/manager i felt that the 'buck stopped with me' - was very glad to be breaking up for summer - but wonder what the situation will be in September...... Sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbo Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) we have the doc (attatched below) and as we are on the grounds of the primary school we are working together and taking lead from them. we have been told to inform the parents if there has been a case in our setting , but as they are not testing in my area anymore i think we should let parents know there has been a 'suspected ' case-we are not closing atm, but parents are free to choose if they still want to bring their child in knowing a case has been confirmed. if the staff begin getting symptoms then we will probably close as we only have 3 staff members, and wont have the required numbers for ratio's -but this is already set out in our policies so parents are aware of this. Swine.pdf FullGuidance.doc Edited July 21, 2009 by ROLYMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I think the hype is ridiculous, It's only flu - and very mild flu at that! Would you normally close your school/preschool/nursery whatever in winter because parents had flu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valp59 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Couldn't agree more Cait!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 As you say Dawn, the setting should remain open for any children who are not ill. If staffing becomes a problem then you need to take each day as it comes and work out whether you would be able to stay open and keep within ratio's. It may be that you need to have a partial closure - perhaps it would be as well to work out a plan of action now with priorities for who would be able to attend should you need to partially shut down. Any children whose parents work in the health sector or emergency services should have a place, as should any child whose home circumstances mean they would have a priority placement. As for informing people about the meeting tonight, the case you had was last week so is not really relevant. Additionally, just keep reminding everyone about the hygiene guidance that has been put out by the government - this is one of the best ways to stem the rate of spread for the time being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 The hype is obviously ridiculous, but the need to manage the perceptions of parents and staff is very real, which I guess is why so many members are coming here to find out what they should be saying and doing - they wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't try to get correct advice to the parents of children for whom they are responsible. The HPA leaflet is useful, and I know there is a HPA letter specifically for nurseries to give to parents and staff (narnia re-printed hers in another topic). Ideally I'd like to link to the original (so that if the advice changes, the link will not be out of date) but either it's not been posted on the HPA site, or it's hard to find - there search facility seems to be malfunctioning at the moment. Sunnyday is correct Dawn - the suggestion not to open schools in the autumn term is not from the government, but from University scientists - read more here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttercup Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 You have my full sympathy - having 'been there done this' three weeks ago. I took guidance from the HPA.......I have already said in another thread ....that I logged my 'phone calls, emails and kept copies of all letters..... If I have understood this correctly...it is not the Government that are suggesting schools should be closed in the autumn but two scientists who have suggested this could stop the spread by 45%...as I understand it - Ed Balls has said this won't be happening......I can't see how it could - can you imagine the economic fallout from that....... My husband is convinced that the media are really using Swine Flu to fill their papers and news programmes because there isn't a lot of news in the summer.... Good luck with it all - I found it all extremely stressful - as an owner/manager i felt that the 'buck stopped with me' - was very glad to be breaking up for summer - but wonder what the situation will be in September...... Sunnyday totally agree if something happens then that will be in the news instead. How many children do we have come in the winter with coughs and colds etc and we dont bat an eye lid. ang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 here here Cait - getting totally out of hand!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.