Well you are, if you expect First Aid from a soft play centre!!!

[Lucyellensmum100]

If you take your child to a soft play centre, they have no legal obligation whatsoever to provide first aid if your child injures itself. This from the Environmental health and safety officer at my local council.

Thankfully though, most places would probably rush to assist you. I wont name names because that would be wrong but my child was injured in a soft play centre in Herne Bay and we were offered no assistance or first aid equipment, in terms of towels to stem blood flow etc, someone to calm me and my daughter down because i was quite frankly in an total panic. They couldnt even tell me where the local Minor injuries unit was.

I reported this to the local authorities and they have said that the only come back i have is to file a civil case, which i dont want to do, the accident wasn't their fault, but some concern would have been nice. They have upheld the complaint in terms of them sending feedback to the place but can take no action as they have acted within the law - surely this can't be right???

Apparently the responsibility lies with the parents! well yes, of course it does, but i don't carry a first aid box around with me - i had to go to the toilets to try and find something to stem the blood flow (my DD had bitten through her tongue) I amd incredulous that this is apparently OK.

I totally understand where you are coming from on this. DP had a minor injury when she tripped coming into a restaurant and the staff just stood gawping while she was gasping in pain on the floor and quite clearly bleeding from her hand. I arrived a few minutes later, saw her on the floor and helped her up to the sofa that was only a few feet away and had to ask for a first aid box. They did fetch one in the end. The next thing we knew a manager appeared with some forms for us to sign to say it wasn't their fault.

We knew it wasn't their fault, and didn't expect fully trained medical staff or anything, but it's just basic courtesy and basic customer service to go over to someone who is clearly hurt and ask what you can do for them. Somehow the fear of being sued has led people to lose some of their common sense and compassion.

I do think threads like this highlight why everyone, especially parents, should be first aid trained. You can't always guarantee that someone else will be around to help and having that training can make a massive difference to your ability to act in the situation.

I hope they DIDN'T show how to apply a tourniquet

poor DD, so sorry

may have been a case of once bitten as well..

recently I was in a playground and a man helped a girl who fell over
when the mum was leaving with her DD another mum went up to her and said "that man shouldn't have touched your daughter" and the mum said "I know I told him so"

• I think I was the only one who thought "well if you hadn't been sitting chatting at the other side of the playground and not noticed that your DD had fallen he wouldn't have would he!

he got no thanks!

being a 1st aider can be bit of a catch 22 from what I remember from my training years ago - if you step forward as a qualified 1st aider and mess up you can be in big trouble.

I would expect staff in a workplace surrounded by small children to have a basic level of compassion towards children, especially when they get injured - which is pretty much going to happen in any/every soft play centre!

I don't understand how anyone can think it's unreasonable to expect any sort of assistance from staff when a person is injured on their property.

YABU but I think given the circumstances I would challenge most mothers not BU. Doesn't it say on most soft play rules that it's all "at your own risk" etc, thus eliminating them from any involvement?

It is a little out of order that they were not willing to help in any way at all. Clearly not the best customer service in the world. And yes should definitely have put it in accident book!

Hope your DD is OK.

"being a 1st aider can be bit of a catch 22 from what I remember from my training years ago - if you step forward as a qualified 1st aider and mess up you can be in big trouble"
I never announce my qualifications at first, I always stop at accidents and watch to make sure whoever has taken the lead is doing it right, I only announce my qualifications if I need them to stop and let me take over because they are doing it wrong. If you've announced qualifications the paramedics take your name so you can be traced

"So in this case the only "first aid" i needed was some clean napkins and concern."
unfortunately it would be impossible to make it a legal requirement for someone to be calm and nice

It doesn't surprise me. I run a children's activity but only have to have first aid training for my staff I have however chosen to do anaphylactic training because I feel it is relevant to me

On all the courses I have done I have been told that it is very unlikely you would be successfully sued (sy johns actually include ir used to insurance cover) as long as you are carrying out first Aid in good faith that is within your knowledge

Eg I would not be sued for attempting CPR but could be sued for trying to carry out heart surgery!

Raisin hahaha - they so did, um if if a sling is torniquet!! :) Ive had a stressful few day, it addled my brain!

Well if you were as obnoxious in RL as you are on here OP, I wouldn't have helped you either
You said your daughter had "bitten through her tongue", it was perfectly reasonable for me to ask if you'd found it without you resorting to name calling.

OP I do sympathise. It's awful when your child has had an accident and no one seems able to help

I have basic first aid but recently when someone cut dd's tie with a sharp garden spade on the beach and we had no way if either cleaning it or stemming the blood and the nearest minor injuries was closed you panic. The drive from burnham to Weston was horrible when you don't know where you are going

Someone should have tried to help you, it's called looking after customers & bring a decent human being

Lay off the OP, it's a huge shock when your child is injured, I come out in a cold sweat now thinking of how if it had gone in a slightly different angle dd could have lost her toe

It's normal to feel angry , let down and a whole range of other feelings

thanks lacking I couldn't remember about the obligation part, and the difference between a 1st aider and a medical professional.

Unfortunately it's usually after you need something that you make sure you always have it - I now have a first aid kit in my car and 2 in the house.

Kim I think that only applies to lay passers by in public places, it would be different for representatives of a company when the injury occured on the premises and the company is sued because of employees actions IYKWIM, And also for health professionals who are identifiable as health professionals at the scene of an accident. We were warned of the risks to ourselves of driving home in our uniforms (aside from infection control issues) incase we had to stop at an accident!

Oh yeah, I know about injured children unfortunately .
Difference is, I didn't bleat on and over exaggerate the injury (I didn't need to), I dealt with it.
Rather than ringing DH at the time of the incident, he was rung when we were in A&E. The most important thing being getting the child seen to .

If she went to hospital, it should be a reportable incident (RIDDOR), maybe you should ask the play centre about that if you are hell bent on hauling them over the coals.

For your information - I dealt with it, i decided that she didn't need an ambulance, i called DP to take me to the Minor injuries unit ( i dont drive and it was 10 miles away). It was not a RIDDOR because she didn't go via ambulance. How dare you imply that i stood whinging about bad service before my daughter got dealt with or over exaggerated the injury - are you actually trying to be that obtuse? You are showing yourself to just be trying to goad me actually. Bit daft isnt it

brandysoackedbitch - maybe you need to dry out, you fucking idiot! of course she could have bled to death had she bitten through the major artery in her tongue

naice

did your dd require a transfusion? was she kept in hospital - you took her to minor injuries, not sure how many people would do tat for an arterial bleed out. tongues bleed a lot as do faces and heads in general.. You are really quite rude and name calling does not help. I would not have helped you either, perhaps more energy keeping yourself calm rather than lashing out aggressively might have helped you and your dd.

I am sorry for your dd but your distress does not make you any more pleasant.

And i do hate to point this out to you OP, but we are all entitled to our opinion. I just think you are wrong is all. Sorry

Ah well OP, if you are comfortable enough to decide she didn't need an ambulance, surely you are able to treat her without the aid of play centre worker .

You know, if you spoke to the owner as you have behaved on here, I'm not surprised he was rude to you.

Do unto them as they do unto you

ARe you stupid?? I said that she could have had an injury that she could have bled to death from, for all the staff new - if you can't ascertain that from what i said then more fool you. I was making the point that even if she did have such an injury then they still would have had no obligation to help. Im sorry if that went over your head. WHERE did id say i was being aggressive? Another mother offered me help, i was too busy thanking her to worry about the lack of care offered by the play centre. It didnt occur to me at the time actually, it wasn only when people said to me"didnt they offer first aid" that i though, no actually they didn't

I WAS NOT RUDE TO THE PLAY CENTRE OWNER - why would i be? I was busy attending to my DD with no help whatsover, i didnt have time to be rude.

WHERE did id say i was being aggressive?

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm

I dunno, not so much that you said it really.....