Busy Bees Mirrabooka: Family awaits blood test results after toddler pricks self with needle

A Perth family faces an anxious wait for results after their toddler pricked herself with a needle at a Mirrabooka daycare.

Three-year-old Abby was at Busy Bees Mirrabooka when it is believed she found a syringe, picked it up and managed to break the skin.

The little girl had an emergency blood test, with another two scheduled for the next 12 weeks to ensure she hadn’t been infected with any diseases.

Her father said he was “sick to the stomach” when he received the phone call from the childcare centre.

The centre told him the needle may have been left on the fence line, within the little girl’s reach.

“I was sick, sick to the stomach,” he said.

“It’s not a nice feeling; I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

It is understood the police were called to retrieve the needle but were not alerted to the incident with the toddler.

Incidents like this must be reported to the Department of Communities, which oversees childcare centres.

Busy Bees Mirrabooka said while it regularly checks all spaces kids may be able to reach or access, it has since undertaken more regular checks and written to parents in the wake of the incident.

But it is not the first time Busy Bees has been at the centre of scandal.

The Mirrabooka childcare centre was fined $14,000 in 2021 after a three-year-old child — who had tried to escape previously — left the facility unnoticed and wandered through a busy carpark alone to a nearby pharmacy.

It wasn’t until the pharmacy called that staff realised the child had been missing for about 15 minutes.

In 2022, another Busy Bees, this time in Wellard, was fined $22,000 after a three-year-old boy also left the centre unnoticed by staff before running down the street and through the nearby train station carpark.