13-month-old girl dies at Edinburgh nursery

Careshare’s Port Hamilton nursery on Morrison Street has been shut to allow inquiries into the tragedy.

It is understood the 13-month-old girl was taken to the city’s Sick Kids Hospital after staff realised she was not breathing.

However, despite the resuscitation efforts of doctors, she later passed away, police said.

A statement from Busy Bees Nurseries, the parent group of Careshare, said: “We can confirm a child from our Port Hamilton nursery was taken to hospital on Wednesday morning as they were found to have stopped breathing. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, very sadly, the child could not be revived.”

Marg Randles, managing director at Busy Bees, has now flown from London to oversee an internal investigation in Edinburgh and to aid police.

She said: “Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the family at this very sad time. We will do all we can to support the family and those affected and we are working alongside all the relevant agencies to help find the cause.

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“I’d like to thank the members of the emergency services for their help and support and also to recognise the efforts of our staff at Port Hamilton.

“The safety and care of children at our nurseries is our highest priority and yesterday’s tragedy has affected us all.”

Careshare at Port Hamilton opened in 2001. The 90-place nursery is located in an office block alongside Scottish Widows in the financial district.

The nursery includes a baby room, a toddler room and a pre-school room. It also has a large, secure garden.

Busy Bees has 17 nurseries in Scotland, including three in Edinburgh – at Edinburgh Park, Port Hamilton and Newhaven.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police responded to an address in Morrison Street at around 12:10pm on Wednesday following a report of a 13-month-old female child having taken unwell.

“The infant was taken to the Sick Kids Hospital where she later passed away. Inquiries are ongoing and a report has been sent to the procurator-fiscal.”

The nursery was last inspected on 6 October when inspectors graded it as good for quality of care and support, environment and staffing. Quality of management and leadership received an adequate mark.

Under the heading of health and wellbeing the inspector wrote of the unannounced visit: “We found this service was performing overall to a good standard in the areas covered by this statement. Staff had attended training in child protection, first aid, and food hygiene. This training meant staff felt more confident about the measures to take to keep the children safe.”

Busy Bees is one of the UK’s largest nursery provider, with 237 nurseries nationwide, offering more than 21,000 places.

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