My son was burnt at nursery

The complaint should be on inadequate first aid. All burns on under 5s need the hospital straight away let alone the blisters.

He should not have been in a room with a radiator hot enough to burn him.
Once burned he should’ve been taken to A&E or you called and told to take him.
A burn that blisters is one that needs attention, did they even run it under cold water?
Absolutely follow this up and report them to ofsted. Also look for a new nursery.

OP, please ignore the posters saying it's on you because you didn't go to pick him up. There is a huge difference between "Theo burnt his hand on the radiator but he is happily playing now" and "Theo got his hand stuck inside a radiator cover and has blisters now". Children go to childcare so parents can go to work. If the setting says they're just calling FYI it stands to reason you don't go running to collect them.

I am totally shocked at how they dealt with this. A burn on a hand should always be seen medically, as should one that blisters. Add to that the minimising and the rather convenient CCTV blind spot, and I'd be withdrawing my child with immediate effect

You’ve done the right thing, this is exactly what Ofsted is for.

My concerns are:

• Why was the danger which the radiator posed not noticed before the nursery had its first children? If it’s hot enough to cause blisters, it shouldn’t be exposed to toddlers. Either they should have had a lower temperature set, or the radiator needed a fixed to wall cover, or a stairgate to section off that part of the room. It should have been thought of and dealt with as part of the first risk assessment.
• Your son would have cried out as soon as it hurt ie after a second or two. Why did it take 42 seconds to rescue a toddler who was presumably screaming or crying for help?
• Who was actively watching him at the time? No one?! Where were the staff at the time and what were they doing?
• Why does the CCTV have blind spots?
• Why aren’t the staff keeping a close watch on the CCTV blind spots?
• The phone call to you was deliberately misleading and dishonest. They did not say he had been trapped or that skin was blistering. Their dishonesty prevented your child from getting prompt pain relief and medical treatment. That is a deliberate act of neglect.
• What treatment did they give the burned skin? Ice packs? Burn lotion? Or nothing?!
• Tea towels are not a solution!! Toddlers love to pull things out of other things, they’ve just created a dangerous toy! Idiots. Now that there’s been an incident the radiator should be turned off or fenced off pending an updated risk assessment.

I would not send my child back there as irnis clearly run by negligent dishoneat fools and I would make a big fuss with Ofsted. I’d maybe also tell the local press as I’m worried about the children who are still there.

Accidents happen and seems this is something no one would have thought about could have happened

Shoving towels into the hole doesn't sound safe so a new radiator cover is needed. One without holes

Tho awful it happened

But

It's the treatment afterwards. Why didn't the take him to hospital to be checked /ask you to collect now and take

If happily playing a few mins later means they did f stick hand under cool/cold running water as advised for burns

For you to spend 5hrs in hospital and needed draining means it must have been really filled with fluid /pus - poor little thing

@Cms1987 they should of had radiator covers on them. They shouldn’t be exposed in a school setting where small children can burn their self. This should have been risk assessed, And if it’s not covered I’d be expecting someone to block the area off and supervise until it is covered, Let alone getting the appropriate medical treatment afterwards. I would 100% report this to ofsted.

Yes but presumably it was a call to say just to let you know…. Rather than please come and take him to hospital. And yes the hospital burst the blisters in a clean environment and the dressed them appropriately to keep clean, not left him scudding around a toddler room.

The way they handled it was definitely wrong, they should have done first aid and then asked you to pick your baby up and get him seen! Poor baby! Accidents do happen but Thats why you have first aiders in school -_-

They did call her. She left it 2 hours before she went to pick him up. Also, she said the hospital burst his blisters.

Absolutely unacceptable of the nursery to not seek medical help.
The setting should be reporting itself to Ofsted and contacting LADO for advice. Also you are well within your rights to contact Ofsted to see if they have done so and ti make sure this doesn't happen again. Worth looking on the Ofsted site to see if there are any previous complaints. But I'd be withdrawing him from that setting.

To be honest I would have gone to pick him up immediately on getting the phone call. They did tell you but you refused to act.

Yes accidents happen, and good you will see the cctv- I hope the key worker runs over the second he starts crying. But they should have immediately given first aid and called you to collect and take to a and e. Waiting until the end of the the day was totally wrong. If the blisters burst in nursery they could become infected and scar badly. Don’t drop this one op, take it as high as you can.

I’m assuming that they did give him first aid, as you haven’t said they didn’t. They also phoned you up about it at the time. Did you ask them then about pain relief? What was the reason why you didn’t go straight to nursery? I’m amazed that the hospital burst the blisters - this goes completely against medical advice on the treatment of burns as it increases the risk of introducing infection! I’d be more likely to complain about that than anything else.

The whole thing would be enough for me to move him if that was possible. No radiator in a childcare setting should be that hot/accessible to children, and they should have realised how bad his injury was.

I'd be more concerned they didn't treat it, fuming actually

I work in a nursery I agree it was just a freak accident sometimes these things happen (but really this should have been risk assessed) but how they have dealt with it after is what would make me report then. If your child's hand is blistered and they have not called you or admonished any first aid I would not be sending my child back... even if it didn't blister at first they should treated just incase and kept an eye on it at the very least.

As an early teacher, I understand that unfortunately accidents happen. But oh wow! The lack of first aid is appalling.
Have they recorded the incident? Are they planning to replace or change the cover- tea towels is completely inadequate. And finally- they staff need first aid training. How on earth did they decide nit to run cool, running water on it. No calpol? Did they under estimate the severity and downplay it to you?

Accidents happen indeed, but they absolutely should have sought medical advice straight away. You should have been called to take him to the hospital straight away and I would be beyond furious that they didn’t do this and he saw out the rest of the day at nursery before seeing a medical professional. In my opinion this is where they really fucked up and I would never be able to trust them with my child again. Absolutely take it further.

Radiators should be below 43C to touch - HSE guidance. I'd be keeping them well below that in a nursery or setting with elderly people. Ours are well below thst at home, no way they should be scalding hot at a nursery.

OFSTED have closed nurseries for less, you need to pursue this.
There’s absolutely no way my child would go
back there. The lack of treatment is appalling.

I expect this is the tip of the negligent iceberg.

What did the accident form say? Ours are always very OTT but at least thorough!

What immediate first aid did they give? If they ran hand under cold water ,ice pack etc then that was appropriate at the time . Blistering takes time to develop. Accidents do happen.

It should have been part of their basic risk assessment, surely? No radiators should be so hot that you could badly burn yourself, and if they are they should be replaced. The gap was an obvious trap for little hands.

I would be moving hm, their basic practices are negligent, the premises are unsuitable if risks exist like this, and I'd also report them to Ofsted and the local authority. Well done for so doing.

Yes, accidents do happen but this was an accident waiting to happen and entirely preventable. Then they didn't even treat him properly when he was hurt. They shouldn't be in the business of caring for small children.

Yes take it future. You’re child needed to be taken to A and E immediately. No only did he receive an injury they didn’t give appropriate medical treatment. I would be more worried about the lack of treatment. How is your son now?