Shock at Hackney nursery closure plan

Closing: Homerton Hospital Roundabout Nursery

A popular Homerton nursery is to close, leaving children and parents in the lurch.

Users of Roundabout Nursery at Homerton Hospital were stunned last week by a letter from the hospital trust telling them the facility is to close at the end of August.

“I will probably have to give up my part time job if we don’t find a good nursery for our 15 month old son, who has settled in there so nicely,” says mum Vassiliki Panagoitou. “This is really short notice for us, as most nurseries in East London have a very long waiting list. It will be even harder for the parents who bring their children to the nursery every day.”

The hospital trust claims Roundabout Nursery, which is set to make a loss of £132,000 this year, is not financially viable.

“The nursery has been running at a considerable financial loss for some years,” the trust says in its letter to parents. “We have investigated ways to reduce the costs of running the Nursery and also considered rises in fees. However the size of the financial gap is such that we do not see this as a realistic plan”.

Nancy Hallett, Chief Executive of Homerton University Hospital Trust, added: “The nursery is running at a very significant financial loss and NHS funds allocated for patient treatment are having to be used to underwrite this cost. This is not a situation we can allow to continue. In addition, we face increasing rental and over-head costs.”

Roundabout Nursery opened in 1991 at the nurses’ home at the old Hackney Hospital, and looked after the children of local NHS staff whilst they were at work. It re-launched in 2008 to also cater for parents and children in the local community.