First aid policies in primary schools

[pinkcattydude]

DS broke his leg at school after a fall. They called us we collected him and took him to hospital after calling 111. Does anyone know why they would have moved him and not called an ambulance. Is this a policy now? Another child broke his arm recently and was sent home again to go to hospital, but it wasn’t put in a sling just given an ice pack. Many moons ago when I was in school I remember ambulances being called etc, but are they not now allowed. I want to help them improve how they deal with these things if possible. But if it’s policy I understand and know my limits.

Presumably they didn’t know he’d broken his leg at the time?

You didn't call an ambulance though? You called 111 for advice. Presumably this wasn't an agonising, bone through the skin type break. Some breaks aren't obvious and school staff have only a very basic first aid training.

Wether an ambulance is called or not will depend upon the presentation at the time.

And yes - schools will call an ambulance if necessary.

The thing is, unless the bones are protruding from the skin, school staff won't be able to tell if it's broken or not, I assume.

Not all broken limbs require an ambulance.

Do you think he needed an ambulance? It doesn't sound like it from your description.

Had he still been where it had happened and we hadn’t had a car we would have called 111 and they would have sent and ambulance before moving him, as he was unable to move himself and was in shock and a great deal of pain. By the time the school had moved him and put him in the car 111 we’re happy for us to take him straight to hospital.

I work in a school and have called ambulences and they take forever to come for children that are breathing, talking etc. Its often far, far quicker for the parent to come. It depends on the location of the school to the hospital I cant imagine it being a policy though. We have waited 3 hours for an ambulence before.

You could look on the website to see their first aid policy and ask how many trained first aiders they have if you feel they shoukd have done more first aid.

But you did have a car and he could move so by all accounts an ambulance wasn’t needed!

The chikd with the broken arm could presumably move fine so why would you call an ambulance for that? The broken leg is more likely to require one but entirely depends on the break.

Here we go. The competitive neglect and suffering in the interests of avoiding A and E. No other country in the universe has a fear of bothering the nice doctors like the UK and deitising of doctors. My Indian colleagues (in Me but also have lived in Mumbai) say an Indian mother calls a doctor in the family a failed engineer.

An ambulance was called for a child at DC's school recently. (It wasn't a flashing lights emergency, they called the ambulance to be safe and her mum met them at school and ended up going with her in the ambulance for a check up at hopsital).

Perhaps they should have called an ambulance. It is 'allowed'. But they made a judgement call and didn't, and I'm sure you son was reassured that you were able to accompany him to the hospital. It would have been painful and distressing for him whatever happened, but I doubt an hour or two's delay made much difference to his treatment. I'm not sure your desire to help them improve their policies is realistic - schools are mired in H&S policies as it is. One relatively minor incident is not going to trigger change.

@grantoderek An ambulance isn't a doctor though!

I wouldn't call an ambulance for a broken arm unless there was another issue since surely you could just drive the child to A&E? I wouldn't use a limited resource when I didn't need it. Of course it's appropriate to go to A&E to get checked out but you don't need to always travel there by ambulance.

I do first aid in a school and had DC presented as though leg was broken ie not being able to get up and move etc we would have called an ambulance. We have children with breaks quite frequently and send them home for their parents to take to a&e as we do not have xray vision nor are we medical professionals. We take care of them until they can go for medical attention. We did call an ambulance recently and the air ambulance attended for a head injury so I would say your school just felt that your DC didn't warrant an ambulance at that time.

Ambulances are for people too sick/fragile to be safely transported any other way, or for people who are likely to need immediate on-the-spot treatment. Schools do call ambulances for these.

As Sunflowers says, a hurt limb may well not require on the spot treatment and the person may be fine to get to someone who can assess them (minor injuries or A&E) in a car.

111 are pretty trigger-happy when it comes to calling ambulances for people and you got him to hospital fine so it sounds as if an ambulance wasn't required.

If it makes you feel more comfortable you could ask the school what their First Aid policy is.

Can i just add dont be put off calling an ambulence because i said they can be slow. The person on the phone triages it and has more info

I don't know if it's school policy but I wouldn't ring an ambulance for a non life-threatening situation. I realise he couldn't move himself but as a child he could presumably be safely moved by adults and that was what happened. If an ambulance is called and arrives before you then a member of staff would go as they wouldn't want for you. Perhaps they also felt he'd want a parent there if possible so called you instead?

The reality is that an ambulance would have taken hours to arrive, there aren't enough for those who require immediate medical care (ie provided by the ambulance on route to hospital), let alone those who just need transporting to A&E.

They would have moved him because at the time they wouldn’t have known his leg was broken.

Surely if it’s possible to use private transport then we should, rather than waste ambulance resources unnecessarily?

@JackANackAnoreeee, that would be more what I had expected. He was only able to move as he’d been manhandled and carried in and out of the car. had both bones been broke there would have been a chance that they could displace. It turned out that the arm bones were both broken and badly displaced by the time they were at the hospital although obviously this could have happened during the incident. There are improvements they could make - putting the policy on the website for a start. I did look and it’s why I’m asking as it’s not there. But I understand it’s only when you go through these events that you truly get to check if it works. I am not complaining although many will see
It as a complaint. I just want to give constructive feedback.

If you had to call 111 for advice and we're able to drive him to hospital, it was no 999 job.

Staff won't be able to tell if it's a broken leg or not. Just like you couldn't. But if bone had broken through skin or was obviously bent funny then an ambulance would be called.

Whose car was he carried to?

What would you suggest the policy should be OP? Honestly phoning an ambulance for a child who has had a fall but is awake, alert and they aren't sure if the bone is broken or not, would take hours, literally hours- there's no priority just because it's a school. They probably felt moving him was appropriate, if he was somewhere, for example, with other children around that could have caused him further pain if they'd have walked into him or whatever. I would discuss that with the school if you feel the need, they will have also recorded it in the accident book (may vary in name). I could see your point if they had made him carry on with lessons and hadn't called you, but it seems reasonable.