A private nursery in Musselburgh has been warned it could be closed down if it doesn't radically improve its standards.
A joint inspection by education inspectors and the Care Commission revealed "totally unacceptable" standards of care and learning at Butterflies Nursery.
Owners, Happitots Day Nurseries Ltd have now been ordered to take immediate and comprehensive improvement action. Inspectors said up to 120 babies and infants were not receiving acceptable care because there were too few qualified and competent staff.
Ronnie Hill, the Care Commission’s Director of Children's Services Regulation, said: “We work vigorously to root out poor and unacceptable practice and take swift action to ensure improvement.
"We want to assure parents that the safety and welfare of the children using the service is our priority at all times.”
The joint inspection was carried out in September as part of an integrated programme of inspection by the two regulatory bodies.
The nursery has been served with six requirements for improvement and its management team has already submitted a detailed action plan for delivering the improvements.
It includes ensuring enough staff are working, providing suitable ventilation and arranging sleep mats correctly to minimise the risk of cross contamination.
Mr Hill said a number of further visits had been carried out since the inspection.
He added: “We are happy to see that the service has been responding positively to the requirements and that important changes have been made.
“We will continue to closely monitor the service to check that improvements are completed to our satisfaction.
“If improvements are not made or the service continues to fail, we will not shy away from taking enforcement action. In extreme cases this may lead to the closure of a service.”
