A nursery attached to Worcestershire Royal Hospital which provides childcare for NHS staff has been rated as inadequate by Ofsted. 

Ofsted inspectors found that at Smileys Creche nursery, children's safety and wellbeing was not assured and that there were weaknesses in the nursery's management. 

Ofsted outlined that Smileys Creche nursery staff must improve staff knowledge around safeguarding issues.

Inspectors also suggested that staff must learn from parents about what children are already capable of before children start to aid their improvement.

Michelle Buckley, director of the nursery, said: "The inspection was carried out on the day and seemed to go well, the inspector witnessed lots of lovely activities and teaching on the day.

"She did not raise any points which were negative resulting in the outcome we received.

"At the end of the day the inspector asked to see various staff details including first aid certificates, the first aid course was booked five days after the inspection because due to covid training had been very hard to access.

"Unfortunately, this left us in breach of regulations."

Ms Buckley went on to claim the Ofsted inspector rang her line manager at the time to see if she could pass a different outcome as she felt the nursery did not deserve the inadequate outcome.

"When the report came we were totally shocked and upset, we instantly reassessed everything mentioned and made action plans which were all implemented immediately.

"We then put in a formal complaint to Ofsted about how the inspector acted and fed back to us on the day and how different that was to the report we received.

"We certainly don't feel this is a true reflection of the nursery and it has affected the staff, the Trust and parents have been very supportive and are appreciative of all the nursery does to enable working parents.

"We have been in touch with other nurseries in the Worcester area who have also received negative inspections and all are concerned at the number that are happening since they resumed after covid.

"We believe all these nurseries can't suddenly have declined in standards and that Ofsted are not providing fair results."

Ofsted confirmed that a complaint was made but said it does not comment on individual providers.

A spokesperson from Ofsted added: "Our inspectors will always seek to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on providers, and will take this into account when reaching their inspection judgements."