what do you do with your mindees if one of them suddenly needs an ambulance?

I haven't read it all through but I seem to think that when my friend was a CM, she had me down as an emergency contact with the parents knowledge, so I would go to her house and wait with the mindees until they could be collected presumably.

I am vague because it was 4 or 5 years ago but I am fairly certain she asked me if she could name me on a form/contract with the parents. I was a SAHM who lived 5minutes walk away and generally went to the same toddler groups etc.

We had a situation where my 11 month old mindee choked on a piece of food - I managed to dislodge it so that she was breathing however she still seemed to have something stuck in her throat, was couging up blood etc and so rang for the paramedics.

To cut a long story short, they basically would not allow my mindee to go in the ambulance alone and took it as a given that I would be going with her and carting my two sons along, which I did. There was only enough space for the three of us to be strapped in (mindee on lap, seatbelt over us both), and as my hospital has a great playroom, my two boys were kept well entertained until my mindee's mum arrived to take over. Works fine with three children, however will have four from September, and I don't drive either!!

Oh this has made me worry as a parent, not a cm.
If at all possible I'd want the cm in the ambulance with my child if I couldn't get there in time (another reason my cm is next door to where I work and not home). But, I realise this may not be possible.

This sort of thing worries me as a parent. We in the end went with a nanny - the what ifs did concern me where there were a lot of children with a cm (much as I liked the ones I visited)

They just said you can't being the baby, no discussion or reason at all.

Well, there must have been a particular reason why Fab. I work for the ambulance service, we often take children in the ambulance if necessary. Obviously a very young baby is harder to secure in the back of an ambulance than older children and would ony be taken if there is absolutely no other option.

I think if I wasn't allowed to take my 3 week old with my dd and I in the ambulance then the chances are no children will be allowed.

Ambulance medics often don't let children ride in the ambulance - sometimes they won't even let parents accompany their own children. Two good reasons for this are that the sick child may have something highly contagious and you wouldn't want anyone unneccessarily in a confined space with them for any time, and secondly they may need room to apply emergency medical treatment, even to resuscitate the child if it came to that, which could also be terribly emotionally upsetting for witnesses especially young children. In my opinion, if the emergency is severe enough to warrant an ambulance being called out, the medics need to be left to do their job without any hindrance.

FWIW I'd probably pile all my (other) kids into the car and follow the ambulance, then worry about contacting parents etc once we got to hospital, but that is because it would probably take too long to round up emergency carers. If I had to call a taxi, the delay there might swing the balance in favour of trying to get a neighbour in to care for the little ones and then leave them behind to be picked up from home by parents.

The body- of course you can take children in an ambulance- there's just not lots of room for lots of children!

Op. You could use this as a plan for emergencies.. If you had to call 999 then you explain to the call taker that you have minded children with you. In my experience (where single parents have had an emergency or a paent has died etc) then sometimes the solo responder will stay and supervise or arrange alternative care or the police will attend and assist.

Greenbannas - you don't always have to stay on the phoneuntil the ambulance arrives! That's only if the patient is unconscious or very unstable and likely to stop breathing. Usually they let you off the phone.

you cant take children in an ambulance..

depends on each situation and severity of illness or injury..

if there is a sensible adult in your house at the time of the occurence then it makes sense to leave well children with them and get them to call parents to arrange pick ups asap...

have all phone numbers of parents on you at all times and apply commen sense.. that means dont loose sleep over this... keep it in proportion and act sensibly at the time..

you cant take children in an ambulance.. you would need to hand over sick child and follow in your car...

In your situation, I would say the child would have to go alone in ambulance, and you and children would have a taxi follow behind.

the parents then pick up from hospital if they couldn't pick up before

This once happened to me when DS had a severe allergic reaction.
I was working alone at the time - DH now works with me - and I had an emergency backup childminder. In the event, I barely had time to ring round the parents and inform them before the ambulance arrived. My backup would never have made it in time.

I left the children with an unregistered but luckily CRB-checked retired teacher. Ofsted will allow unregistered care in an emergency and the parents soon arrived to pick up their children so it wasn't for long.

I think what you have to bear in mind is that, in an emergency, that ambulance is fast. A child with an allergic reaction and resulting breathing difficulties is a high priority.
Whatever plan you decide, make sure it can be very quickly implemented.

Im a childminder and have 2 back up child minders who all my minded child ren know by sight and name.
if this option failed I would put the rest in the car, and follow along behind.
My own children are almost 10 and 13, I would call my parents/sister first, or my neighbour across the road, and I would be quite happy to leave them at home on their own till either of them arrived to pick them up.

Im a childminder and have a medical emergency plan that has been approved by Ofsted. Basically its states that in an emergency I call an ambulance and the person ( parent or other nominated person) who is listed on the plan. That person then arranges to meet the child either at my house before travelling to hosputal or actually at the hospital on arrival. It states that due to other children in my care I will not be travelling with the ambulance. Obv this only is suitable for minded chilldren, not my own, but am happy to send you a copy if you want. I had to put something into place as one of my mindes had a fit at home and parents were told to call an ambulance immediately if he had another one ( which thankfully he never did) but it made me think how Id cope. Hth x

Hi, you can use unregistered people in emergencies. The important thing is to write a policy - list what you will do and WHO your children will go to - GET YOUR PARENTS TO SIGN THIS to consent. Thats REALLY important.
You will get to know other CM's and they will be more than happy for them to be your emergency backup and vice versa. Also on your mobile put under ICE (IN CASE OF EMERGENCY)(services look for this if anything happens to you) and put down a contact who knows your procedure and has a number of your emergency contacts.Also, I keep a note in my first aid kit in my buggy of all the emergency contacts and it says not all the children are mine - I am a childminder and please contact..... to collect children (thats only if s thing happens to you of course!)
I'm the worst worrier in the world and have had plenty of nightmares over the years - it could all happen - probably wont - but in worst case scenario, you have got a policy signed by all the parents to say they have read, understood and agree to your emergency policy so you will be fine!

My network co-ordinator asked me this once and tbh I was stumped. She said that it is ok to leave the children with a trusted nieghbour if you absolutly had too. So that is without signing anything or parental permission or anything, just use your best judgement, then as soon as possilbe, to contact Ofsted, explain the situation, what you did, why you did, it and how you kept the children safe.

Basically use your common sense and notify ofsted.

Obviously it is MUCH better if you have a back up plan. Have a list of people you could call, and get it all written down in a policy that the parents can read. get to know other childminders in your local area. I can think of 4 of the top of my head now, that I would be happy phoning and providing they were at home, or in our local area, could get here pretty fast.

If you were to ring another childminder, it might mean them being over ratio for a while but I am sure Ofsted and parents would be ok with this, if was the safest possible option, and you notify them.

A similar(ish) situation happened when DS1 was at childminders. The CM's DS2 (age 6yrs) slammed a door shut, trapping the fingers of her DS3 (age nearly 1yr) and slicing off the top of his finger. My DS1 (age 2 years) was the only CM'd child there. The CM's DH ( a shift worker) was at home, fortunately, so all 5 of them (ie 2 adults, 3 children) piled into car and headed for hospital. On the way to the hospital, CM's DH spotted an ambulance stopped at traffic lights - jumped out to talk to them, and they were able to take CM and their DC3 to hospital by ambulance.

CM's DH then headed back home with our DS1 and his DS2. (CM's DH was also registered as CM). Called my DH, who then picked up DS1.

Sorry bit of a long and convoluted story, and not quite the same as the sort of emergency you have experienced, OP (although still an emergency obv).
I guess prob not ideal, in retrospect, to be flagging down ambulance stopped at traffic lights, but think that sometimes in emergency situations, you may have to resort to some degree of creativity. Thinking & planning ahead should avoid much of this though.

I always make sure that every mindee has a nominated local emergency contact who is generally around and available (especially if their parents work more than 15 minutes away). I have a couple of parents who work from home so have permission for other minded children to stay with them at my house if absolutely necessary. Also have permission for them to stay with my husband and back-up emergency childminder. Only time I had to call an ambulance for a mindee (medical condition, not an accident), everyone arrived before the ambulance left (including parent of ill mindee who works 30 minutes away) so I was able to carry on working as the parent went with mindee. It was a relief though to see that it all worked smoothly when needed and, in reality, even if you call the ambulance it is not going to be there immediatley so there is time to sort things out!

On our first aid course we were told the ambulance will NOT take the other children. You can leave them with a trusted unregistered adult, who can use your emergency list to phone their parents. Definitely get to know your neighbours and maybe have another local CM, who can make their way to your house to help the neighbour with the children and contacting the parents.

I have a back up CM who lives half a mile away and I am hers. I have produced an 'emergency pack' with all childs contact phone numbers and for confidentiality she doesn't hold them but know where to find them.

I also carry a card in my purse advising people to contact her or my husband would in case it is me that needs the ambulance and/or i cannot speak for myself and the children.

She is to call and advise that the children are needed to be collected immediately inc calling my husband from work for my DD if necessary and i would go with the sick child in the ambulance.

I've been in that situation (playdate not CM) and didn't cope as well as I'd like (although it all ended happily) so I'd agree that it's worth having a plan. You do have to stay on the landline phone to the ambulance, but that doesn't necessarily stop you talking to other people on your mobile at the same time.