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Original poster

Advice regarding informal complaint to school.

60 replies

Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 16:47

At the very end of summer term my 11 year old daughter went on a school trip for 2 nights/3 days.

She came home obviously very ill, with a fever and a badly infected elbow. We had to take her straight to a&e where she was admitted for 6 days of iv antibiotics (plus then tablet antibiotics for a few days once discharged) and was given a diagnosis of cellulitis and lymphangitis. The cellulitis was very severe looking (very red with a large ‘crater’). There was even talk of her having to have surgery but fortunately the surgeon she saw decided it wasn’t necessary.

During this school trip she complained twice, to two different teachers of a painful arm, once on the first evening and once at lunchtime on the third day.

The teacher she told on the first day had a look at her arm and as there was nothing obvious there told her to put a wet towel on it. However, on the third day she asked the other teacher for a plaster for her arm as it was hurting but her arm wasn’t even looked at and she was told there was no plasters available.

I picked her up from the school trip late afternoon/evening and spoke to the first teacher (who was in charge of the trip) to say thank you. This teacher mentioned nothing to me about her problems with her arm during the trip. It was only when we got home and saw it ourselves we realised how badly infected it was.

I had been in touch initially with the teacher in change of the trip to find out exactly what happened and how she came home so ill. He was going to find out if the other teacher had looked at her arm on the third day but I never heard back from him about that particular question.

Once autumn term started I left it a couple of weeks then got in touch with the head teacher to discuss what had happened and that I hadn’t had an answer regarding whether her arm was looked at on the third day, and also to complain that I wasn’t told
anything at pick up. She said she’d find out but I didn’t hear anything.

I saw the head on an unrelated issue at the beginning of last month, and mentioned that I still hadn’t had the answers I was waiting for and that I was really unhappy, disappointed and obviously very upset by the whole thing. I was asked if I wanted to make a formal complaint which I said I didn’t, I just wanted answers and a reassurance this wouldn’t happen again.

The head told me she still hadn’t spoken to the other teacher which I don’t actually believe. She’d had weeks to speak to her at this point.

Anyway, weeks later and I’ve still heard nothing. Im not sure what to do now? I can obviously get in touch with the head again but I’ve asked these questions 3 times already.

The schools policy on informal complaints is to respond within 10 days. I’ve been waiting weeks now. Has anyone else been in a similar situation or have any advice on moving this forward. I’d still rather avoid a formal complaint as I’m not sure if it’s justified in this case. Any advice gratefully received. Thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:44

@comfyoldcardi
no the injury was a tiny cut sustained at a swimming pool which unfortunately let to cellulitis before the trip

I worded this wrong, I meant the cut was before the trip not the cellulitis, that was during.
The first teacher looked at her arm the first time and saw nothing that warranted any concerns.

OP posts:
Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:41

@SwedishSchnauzer
thank you.
Does it seem likely that the first aider would have no plasters on them during a trip like this?
It seems to me that they just didn’t take it seriously or listen to what she was saying but I’m not sure if it’s unfair of me to assume that?

OP posts:
Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:24

@Lavinia56
she didn't have cellulitis before the trip, I’d never have sent her if she did! My question was actually about informal/formal complaints. I wish the actual question was being answered rather than picking apart was actually a really difficult and upsetting time. We drove her to hospital and I was actually terrified she’d develop
sepsis.
Thank you to all the posters who have helped, I think that formal complaint is the way to go now.

OP posts:
SwedishSchnauzer · 24/11/2023 20:23

The teachers (allocated first aider) has a duty of care to your DD and should have looked at it to assess. So formal complaint and ask for their first aid and safeguarding procedures on trips

Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:20

I’m not actually trying to blame any teachers, it was just unfortunate timing she was on a school trip when she got cellulitis.

Apologies for not mentioning before but the cellulitis was under her arm by the elbow, so she couldn’t actually see herself to how bad it got.
She asked for a plaster because her trail of thought was that if it hurts a plaster would help, 11 year old logic I guess.

The small cut was sustained on a trip to a swimming pool with a friend, it stopped bleeding almost immediately and she forgot about it almost straight away.
She didn’t tell me until she was in a&e that she’d cut herself and she hadn’t even told
her friend’s mum who took them to the pool. It was so small and she’s had many small cuts before that have never led to cellulitis so even if I’d know I wouldn’t have thought anything about it.

When in a meeting for this school trip the teacher in charge made a point of saying that our children would be as well looked after by the teachers as we the parents would look after them, which is hindsight is a load of rubbish!

Also to the posters who say the teachers aren’t trained nurses, of course I know that! However neither am I and as soon as I saw her arm I knew she needed medical attention and quickly. She had a crater almost the size of a 5 pence piece, it was infected all around and the infection was tracking up her arm, she’d told 2 teachers on 2 separate occasions and it was missed. And that just isn’t good enough.

Like I said, I’m not trying to blame, I just don’t feel she was adequately looked after and it’s the what ifs that make me feel rather sick. She is fine which is the important thing, but it was a horrible situation and I do feel that it could’ve been handled better.

OP posts:
Lavinia56 · 24/11/2023 20:11

Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:04

@comfyoldcardi
no the injury was a tiny cut sustained at a swimming pool which unfortunately let to cellulitis before the trip

As your daughter already had cellulitis before the trip started, you should have made the school aware of it, or even better, kept her at home until you could get a gp appointment.

purpleme12 · 24/11/2023 20:05

I'd probably escalate to formal complaint.
Because regardless of whether they were at fault or not, they're not taking you seriously NOW are they.
They're fobbing you off NOW.
You've tried with them.

Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:04

@comfyoldcardi
no the injury was a tiny cut sustained at a swimming pool which unfortunately let to cellulitis before the trip

OP posts:
Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 20:02

@CeilingWacks
thank you, are you’re right I’m not looking for blame. I just wish my child was listened to and the thought of ‘what if the trip was longer’ has has kept me up many nights. She should’ve been safe on a school trip.

OP posts:
Bluevelvetsofa · 24/11/2023 19:56

Did you mention that there was an injury before the trip, when you took her to the collection point. Perhaps, as it happened prior to the trip, the staff thought it had been dealt with.

The lack of subsequent response isn’t good though.

Ursulabouffet · 24/11/2023 19:11

To those defending the teachers.. the child's arm was "severe" with a "crater" at pickup and immediate presentation to A&E led to admission shortly after. The request for the plaster was made mere hours before.

Teachers should review a wound a child has complained about twice. If they had, the severity would have been apparent.

Paediatric EM consultants do not admit 11 year olds for IV antibiotics lightly at all.

The school failed in their duty of care by not reviewing the wound and flagging it to the parent.

If this was a 7 day trip the child could've been very ill indeed. Cellulitis is nasty and progresses to sepsis easily once bedded in.

DisquietintheRanks · 24/11/2023 18:57

Teachers are not trained nurses

But when they are in loco parents they should seek appropriate medical care for their charges in a timely manner.

DisquietintheRanks · 24/11/2023 18:56

Lifeinlists · 24/11/2023 17:10

They have failed in their safeguarding and duty of care. Now they're hoping you'll stop talking about it and it'll all go away.

Make a formal complaint, back it up with the medical evidence and submit it to the chair of governors. You'll notice a different tone then I should think.
What happened is not acceptable.

^ This! If the school wanted to avoid a formal complaint they should have shown you they were treating the shortcomings in their handling of this incident very seriously indeed.

Mirrormeback · 24/11/2023 18:33

No one in this particular situation is at fault

Mirrormeback · 24/11/2023 18:32

You are also not a trained nurse

If you were you would asked for regular updates on what even you thought was a superficial cut

If you were worried then you would not have sent her on the trip

None of you knew quite rightly that it would turn into cellulitis

None of you are at fault

It is what it is and you dealt with it accordingly on her return which is when it was progressively worse

Mirrormeback · 24/11/2023 18:29

Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 17:36

Thank you to the new responses. I am definitely feeling like a formal complaint is the way to go to get answers and a satisfactory response

No the injury wasn’t at school or on the trip, she got a superficial cut before the trip which turned into cellulitis during the trip.

Then it was your duty to mention the cut prior to her trip

Teachers are not trained nurses

Mirrormeback · 24/11/2023 18:27

In a normal situation like this they should have called you to collect your DD

However like any infection it starts off small and gets worse

It was at its worse by the time she got home

Whilst on the trip I doubt it warranted much attention

avenue1 · 24/11/2023 18:17

I'm a teacher and if an 11 year old asked me for a plaster, I would 1) believe them that there was a wound/cut as opposed to muscle pain. And 2) Not rely on them to assess the severity and apply the plaster, so would have checked it.

lanthanum · 24/11/2023 18:08

I think what you're wanting is to know that they will review procedures to try and make sure this can't happen again.

I imagine that the first teacher saw only the superficial cut, and didn't know that it was worsening. The second just answered her request for a plaster, and probably thought it unlikely that more than that was needed for an injury that they assumed was now healing. It doesn't sound as if your daughter had made the staff aware of any fever.

So what needs changing in the procedures to avoid this happening?
I think it's unlikely the first teacher would have realised it was infected - they're not experts, and they had no comparison with how it was before the trip. It sounds as if her second query was late enough in the trip that the teacher would have seen what you saw, so hopefully would have realised there was an issue, even if not how serious. So an instruction that any request for a plaster should involve looking at the injury would probably have made a difference there. As they were presumably setting off home soon at that point, they probably wouldn't have been doing more than keeping an eye on her and alerting you.

It's difficult, because teachers are not medical experts. My daughter had exczema that got infected, and it was a while before I discovered. I got a phone/photo appointment with the nurse practitioner, half-wondering if that was necessary, and she asked to see DD, prescribed antibiotics, and explained that it could easily have gone to sepsis. She addressed that lecture more to my daughter than to me, because she hadn't shown me, and at 14 I couldn't be expected to inspect her body on a regular basis.

penjil · 24/11/2023 17:50

The school are taking the piss out of you. Get a formal complaint in ASAP. Not just about the teachers, but the way the head teacher hasn't dealt with the informal complaint!

They're obviously hoping you'll forget about it! Don't!

CeilingWacks · 24/11/2023 17:44

On a busy school trip, I can see why the teacher didn't think that "my arm hurts, can I have a plaster" was particularly serious. The fact remains, however, that it was extremely serious.

It seems that you're not looking for any sort of blame, or sanction, you just want to make sure that everyone is aware how seemingly innocuous injuries/illnesses can be more serious than you might assume? The school should be falling over themselves to a) make sure this training happens, and b) let you know it has happened. I would be devastated if this had happened on a trip I was leading, and I would have already booked in-depth first aid courses for everyone involved in future residential trips.

If a formal complaint is the only way, then so be it.

Original poster
Redwineandsunshine · 24/11/2023 17:36

Thank you to the new responses. I am definitely feeling like a formal complaint is the way to go to get answers and a satisfactory response

No the injury wasn’t at school or on the trip, she got a superficial cut before the trip which turned into cellulitis during the trip.

OP posts:
MBappse · 24/11/2023 17:35

Do you think the crater was there on the first day? What was the cause of the infection, do you know?

LadyWiddiothethird · 24/11/2023 17:26

Teachers are not “medically trained”,what an idiotic thing to say!Surely they should be aware if a child is as ill as this one clearly was!She was taken straight to A and E after returning from the trip.

Put in an official complaint,don’t wait for the school to get in touch,they clearly know how serious it was and are trying to trivialise it for their own good.

Sounds as if she had a lucky escape from sepsis.

WeeSleekitCowrinTimrousBeastie · 24/11/2023 17:19

Teachers are trained in first aid, but they are not medical practitioners.

A kid saying they have a sore arm and teacher looks at can find nothing wrong.
A kid says to another teacher I want a plaster.

From that I can't say that I would have done any differently nor been able to tell there was something wrong. Could anyone?

What is different is that you say she was obviously unwell when you collected her - would that have been obvious to the teachers? When did she become unwell? Did she tell anyone that she was unwell? Was she obviously unwell when she spoke to the first teacher or when she asked for a plaster?

These are the things you should want looked into?

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