14/03/25….Lexie Hurles with Parents Zac Hurles ,mum Kiera young and younger sister Lacey….Lexie on Kiera.s knee[/caption]
A BABY suffered a fractured skull and brain bleed in a horror accident at a nursery.
Little Lexie Hurles’ mum Kiera Young said staff told her that the youngster had merely “bumped” her head.
But Lexie — just seven months old at the time — needed emergency medical treatment after Kiera found her “crying hysterically” at Primrose City Nursery in Dennistoun, Glasgow.
She rushed her daughter to the city’s Royal Hospital for Children after touching a lump on her skull that “felt like jelly”.
Mother-of-two Kiera, 26, worked at the nursery but was on maternity leave after having second daughter Lacey when the accident happened.
She launched a damages claim against her former employers after Lexie recovered and recently settled out of court for a five-figure sum.
Kiera said: “I thought Lexie would be fine in that nursery and assumed she would be in safe hands because I knew all of the staff.
“I’ll never forget the day it happened and I went to pick her up.
“I’ve never heard her scream or cry like that.
“I felt terrible and blamed myself. I thought she was crying because I left her in nursery for too long.” Kiera also reported the nursery to the Care Inspectorate whose investigators identified failings.
After a site visit in May 2023 they determined the preschool facility had neglected to have precautions in place, failed to notify Kiera and partner Zac Hurles of Lexie’s injuries and did not provide an accident report.
But Kiera was left so traumatised by the incident that she did not even trust family to look after Lexie.
She also had to cancel a holiday after doctors expressed concern about the effects of aeroplane cabin pressure on the tot’s head.
Kiera said: “I wouldn’t let Lexie out of my sight.
“I couldn’t even trust my mum, my partner’s mum or my partner himself to look after her.”
But nearly two years on from the family’s ordeal, she has finally Lexie enrolled in another nursery.
Kiera said: “She’s in a council nursery and it’s great. My sister also works there.
“Lexie was out of nursery for over a year, it wasn’t fair on her having to spend every day with me. I don’t want another parent or child to go through what we went through.”
A Primrose City Nursery spokesman said: “The care of children is absolutely critical to all aspects of our nursery. It is a very happy and safe environment for our many children.
“A recent inspection concluded our setting is very good, and we were praised for our nurturing and inclusive ethos.
Unfortunately, we cannot discuss individual cases, but the wellbeing of our children and our service to their families is paramount to us.”
