In an ornate room tucked away in the Houses of Parliament, experts called for a safer sleep national campaign to combat the ‘dangers’ of unsafe advice online and in nurseries.
At the front of the room, a family who knew all too well of the importance of safe sleep practices watched on. For Katie Wheeler and John Meehan, their traumatic loss of their daughter Genevieve at the hands of her nursery worker served as a reminder for why safe sleep practice was more important than ever.
Genevieve ‘Gigi’ Meehan was killed at Tiny Toes Children’s Day Nursery in May 2022 after she was strapped face down onto a beanbag and left unsupervised for 90 minutes by her nursery worker, Kate Roughley.
Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter
Roughley was jailed for 14 years in May 2024 for causing her unlawful death. A pre-inquest review into Genevieve’s death has been set for October 8 this year.
Her parents, John Meehan and Katie Wheeler have since launched the Campaign for Gigi to improve safety standards in nursery settings.
In it, they are calling for compulsory CCTV in nursery settings; unannounced Ofsted inspections to be routine in early years settings; review of CCTV footage in Ofsted inspections; clear, statutory safe sleep guidance for early years settings; mandatory safe sleep training for all nursery staff and Ofsted inspectors; and clear statutory guidance as to the use of sleep products in early years settings.
The campaign, which can be found here, is urging people to get in touch with their local MP to ask them for their support.
On Monday afternoon, September 14, a host of experts across the field discussed the current state of safer sleep awareness and what was needed to moving forward to protect children and families.
Chairing the roundtable, Tom Morrison, MP for Cheadle said: “Safe sleep is one of the most important topics in public health messaging. It was, for me, as the father of a 19-month old, one of the conversations drilled into us as we were going through the antenatal classes. Sadly, as we have heard far too many times, that guidance has not been followed. It is from these conversations we can talk about how we make sure that guidance is enforced.”
Addressing the room, John began by speaking about one of his favourite days with his daughter. “It was a wonderful day and one of my favourite memories, we went to Lyme Park. We used to describe them as ‘daddy days’, when it was my responsibility for the clothes, the snacks, and everything in between.
“It would usually mean the clothes didn’t match, dishevelled hair and Genevieve being mischievous. It was a beautiful day and I think about it a lot. For Gigi it was a day full of wonder looking at the animals and the surroundings. I didn’t know at the time it would be one of the last days I got to take Gigi somewhere.
“Like most parents, Katie and I assumed the regulated environments would follow the safe sleep guidance – we were fanatical about it at home. We assumed it would be the same in a practical environment.
“After Gigi’s death, we couldn’t help but ask ‘how?’ How did this happen? How is it that safe sleep guidance is not being following in a nursery? How is it that children can go to nursery safely and not come home?”
Katie spoke of the changes they have already made to the sector, which include; the implementation of safer sleep regulations; the increase in funding for Ofsted to allow for 3000 more no-notice inspections; an update to the Ofsted framework which coincides with the Early Years Foundation Stage changes; and the increase of the Ofsted inspections from six years to four years.
Referring to the handmade lavender bunches left for each attendee, she explained that due to Genevieve’s name, they associated her with being French. “We used to give her a French accent and every year we visit a different lavender field for her. Hopefully you take them away and think of the beautiful little girl who deserves to be here.”
Jenny Ward, CEO of the Lullaby Trust which is actively supporting the family, said: “The achievements they have made are absolutely huge – but there is still more to do. We are very fortunate to have had contact with the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, who has now changed jobs. We want to make sure everyone knows about safe sleep and that families are supported.”
Connor Rand, MP for Altrincham and Sale, spoke of the case of Madison Bruce-Smith, who was just four-months-old when she died after being put to sleep by a ‘maternity nurse’ despite having no qualifications. “Nobody had been held legally accountable for her death,” he said.
“Anyone can call themselves a nursery nurse and put a child’s life at risk. As Madison’s parents said, without regulation there has been more tragedy. There have been huge steps forward – hopefully we build on that and save more babies lives going forward.”
Professor Peter Fleming, who specialises in Infant Health and Developmental Physiology at the University of Bristol, and also contributes findings to the National Child Mortality Database, also attended at the roundtable.
He told the room that in the mid-1980s, it was recognised that the number of babies dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) had increased. Dr Fleming was just starting the Avon Cot Death Study when he read a Dutch report which suggested that putting babies to sleep on their fronts led to a high risk of SIDS. Fleming analysed the Avon data and found that 93 per cent of the babies who had died had been put to sleep lying on their fronts.
It wasn’t until a follow-up study in 1991 that Fleming felt confident to approach the Government’s health advisers with his findings. Following a high profile campaign by TV presenter Anne Diamond – who lost her own child through SIDS – the Government gave its official support to the study and launched the highly successful ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign.
Two decades ago, SIDS claimed the lives of 2,000 babies in the UK every year, however since the campaign that number has been reduced, and is currently around 200, Dr Fleming said,
“There was a huge effect, the message was getting through,” he said. “Now we have the issue of older people saying that they used to put their children down to sleep on their front and ‘our children were fine’. That’s true, but if everybody does it, then the risk is much greater.
“If everybody put their baby on their front, recent data suggests it will go from 200 babies per year to 5,000. Our position is that we want professionals to be aware.” He also said that the use of round the clock video surveillance is one of the inexpensive ways to make sure that the practice is followed.
Dr Anna Pease, who has worked for the last 16 years in Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy prevention said: “Parents are getting more of their information from many other sources now, including social media. Parents really want honesty, they want somebody to be straight forward with them.
“There is a problem of mixed messages, there’s a lot of images and nonsense online. People see a product has become available and it’s supposed to help your baby sleep, but it doesn’t mean it’s safe and actually tested for babies.”
Following a recent BBC investigation on dangerous advice given to parents, paediatrician Dr Lillie Parker and midwife Olivia Hinge said more had to be done to ‘call out’ those who use their platform to advice unsafe practises.
“Anybody who calls themselves a ‘sleep expert’ needs to be regulated, and they need to know what can happen when you give that advice,” said Dr Parker.
In response, Katie said: “Regulation is important for accountability. We were lucky that somebody went to prison, which does give you some sense of peace. That didn’t happen in Madison’s case, and it’s horrific for some families to not have that.”
Jamie Barnes, founder of Everything Early Years and an early years consultant added: “There are all different pieces of information online. People ask me for links all the time, and we all want to be doing the right thing. The public need to be given the right information.”
The roundtable discussed the idea of a 10-year strategy with improved and regulated training to avoid ‘sticking a plaster over the problem’, as part of a ‘renewal’ of the safer sleep campaign.
Concluding, Mr Morrison said: “All of this room are moving forward for the renewal of the safe sleep campaign, and using the growth of social media. I really want this to be the beginning of a discussion that goes forward.”
After the meeting, he added: “Today’s roundtable brought together an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and experience, from world-leading clinicians to the health visitors and paediatricians who see the impact of poor advice every day. But at the centre of it all were Katie and John, whose courage in turning their unimaginable grief into action has already changed national policy.
“We now need a new national safer sleep campaign, proper regulation of so-called sleep experts, and a guarantee that every single person who looks after children professionally has the guidance they need. No family should go through what Katie and John have.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login