Call for all nursery staff to be qualified in paediatric first aid

More than 100,000 people signed the e-petition started by Dan and Joanne Thompson after their nine-month-old baby Millie died after choking on food at the Ramillies Hall nursery in Stockport two years ago.

The parents set up Millie’s Trust in memory of their daughter and started the e-petition in the hope of triggering a debate calling for compulsory first aid training in nurseries.

Mark Hunter, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle, is leading the debate in Parliament calling for a change in the law to ensure that every nursery worker is trained in paediatric first aid.

‘Most parents when they get their child into a nursery would probably expect that all the nursery staff would be adequately trained in things like paediatric first aid care,' he said.

‘That’s not actually the case as the law stands at the moment and I think that would come as an unpleasant surprise to an awful lot of people.'

Commenting on the plans, a statement from the National Day Nurseries Association said, ‘Through its campaigning, Millie’s Trust has been successful in gaining backing for the importance of paediatric first aid. As an organisation NDNA supports the call for many, if not all, staff to be qualified.

‘As well as supporting members to achieve this, as part of our work to shape early years qualifications we are pressing for first aid to be a mandatory requirement for early years apprenticeships.’

The EYFS states that there must be a paediatric first aider available at all times and that childcarers should take into account the number of children, staff and the layout to ensure a first aider is able to respond to emergencies quickly.

The NDNA said that high-quality nurseries would view these guidelines as a minimum requirement and have as many childcare staff as possible, if not all staff, qualified in paediatric first aid.