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.

Lucy - I didn't even know you were in a ball pool, so I had no mental image of where you were rooting.

If somebody says go 'through' the door, do you go into the next room (or whatever), or do you stop in the door frame?

Hence my question as whether you'd found the tongue?

Anyway, consider my apology rescinded

ah feck off kay

edam I suspect that is the case. It would be different if the parent entrusted the child to the care of the staff - eg supervised play sessions, etc.

But I think that the fact that parents are responsible, the centre don't have the same duty of care as they are only providing the facilities.

I do think, though, that even though there is no legal requirement, they should still offer, particularly as there is potential for bumps, scrapes, etc.

What is even worse is that staff at soft plays don't even need to have had crb checks!

why should staff at soft play have crb checks? Sorry if it's obvious but I'm very tired

they will not be left alone with a child

Why would play centre staff need BRB/PVG checks?

• Sorry, I meant CRB

Op, do you really need to be so rude to everyone who disagrees with you? Do you realise how unpleasant it makes you sound?

What would you have done in an outdoor play area in a park?

She COULD have bled to death but it would take a good couple of hours to bleed to death from a tongue bleed.

Hope your daughter is ok.

I think this thread underlines something I've been thinking guiltily for years: that it should really be the responsibility of every parent to get First Aid training at an early stage, perhaps even during pregnancy. If the result of training is that you can stay calm and not panic, then obviously we should all be having it as we are likely to be the first and most important person on the scene of any accident our offspring might be having.

Actually, I do believe this. Dh has had regular training for work and he is brilliant at dealing with the numerous accidents and sudden illnesses that are a feature of life with dd. I can just about manage to stay calm and reassuring, but I seem to lack that edge somehow. Definitely a project for this autumn.

Hope your dd feels better soon, Lucyellen.

atruth i think you will find i was only unpleasant to those two posters who were unpleasant to me, and their opinion is of no import to me. Plenty of pther people have disagreed and i have tried to present my argument.Im sorry if you think im unpleasant, but you know, i don#'t know you, so.......... WAves at Kay, she was only joking - i can tell that because she grinned after ever comment, either that or she had forgotten her medication

What irritates me is that people have taken what i said completely literally. The point of posting this thread, alongside my other thread was to express my surprise that I had found out that actually, Play centres don't have to provide any first aid. I think this is disgusting. As it happens, and as i have said, i did manage to deal with the situation - however it would have been made much easier for me if someone had rushed over with some napkins so that i could concentrate on comforting my child instead of having to rush about trying to find something to clean her with.

My comment about her bleeding to death was not literal, i know she wasn't about to bleed to death, but she might have had an injury, to any part of her body that was serious - and the staff would have still stood around doing nothing and known that they didn't have to offer assistance. I am suggesting that it is wrong that in places where they make money out of children, they should at least have someone who is trained and willing to assist.

Had i been in an outside playground, well i would probably had to stem the bleeding with an item of clothing or maybe i would have had some tissues with me, probably not enough, i may have had to call and ambulance if my DP wasn't close enough to take us to the hospital. But i was inside a play centre where i PAID to use the fascilities and stupidly thought i would be offered assistance. ACtually, i managed on my own thankyou very much but does anyone really think that it was ok that i wasn't offered anything to clean my child, that no one asked (apart from other parents) if she was ok?

I can't decide whether it was seriour or whether OP is slightly hysterical...

DD shouting 'I'M dying' becuase her tongue is bleeding seems very over the top too.

Anyway, glad she's better now - out of interest what exactly was the treatment in hospital?

Yes and it was still bad customer service and a bit unkind but there should be no legal obligation (and certainly not CRB checks etc for staff) and you are still unreasonable (and a bit rude).

You would have called an ambulance for a bitten tongue?? I think that does show that you perhaps over react to situations

Actually I am surprised that they don't have first aid kits etc.. so thanks for raising my awareness of this.
I can only imagine how distressing it must have been for you, and to be honest compassion and a bit of helpfulness from the staff would have been nice.

Hope you are both ok now xx

Yes agreed sirzy. And Op seriously your panicking does not help your DD. What the hell else expect than paper towels?? Do you not have tissues or something in your bag. I do understand you have had a shock but you are confusing the issues your child in a place like that is your responsibility. If you had thought it through surely you would have been prepared??? devil's advocate there but really if you expect staff to be prepared for this is a play place for kids surely the responsibility actually lays with the parent who takes them there in the first place.

I think all parents should be responsible for learning about, and administering first aid

you can get a small kit anywhere, and you need to always be prepared

focus anger on this issue rather than berating soft play

hope she gets better

Paper towels NOT from the toilets!!! Tissues in my bag? are you serious?? Do you know how much a tongue bleeds? My DD is seven - she was in agony and bleeding profusely - of course she thought she was dying. How did i react to that, i smiled at her and said, don't be silly darling, you aren't going to die come on lets get you cleaned up.

Anyway, this thread has proved something to me i have thougth for a long time - they go the way the first few posts make them go. No one seems to be able to think for themselves. I posted the same thread the other day asking for who i should complain to about this situation, every poster was sympathetic and outraged and told me to complain to various authorities, sure that my complaints would be upheld. But because maybe my tone in this post was slightly different, or, as i suspect, there was a couple of rude posters at the begining, which i didn't respond to in the best manner i will admit because i sank to their level, i have received little sympathy in this thread. I am not looking for sympathy. I do not have to justify my reaction to what happened, because i DID remain calm, despite my inward panic which made me unable to remember if there was a minor injuries unit close by or not. Maybe i should have made a map or evacuation plan before i entered the establishment. Maybe i shouldn't have taken my DD there because i don't drive and had to rely on my DP to get my DD to the hospital.

I opened this thread to make people aware of something that surprised and disappointed me. I was not at any point indicating that i felt it was the responsibility of the play centre to take care of MY child, but to offer assistance, yes, i do think there is a duty of care. On this thread, i appear to be in a minority on my other thread however...........

The problem is you seem to be ignoring the comments others have made and by making comments like calling an ambulance for a cut make yourself seem like a drama queen anyway.

Nobody has denied that it was crap customer services, what people have said is that realistically there is nothing a first aider could do, it wasn't a serious injury it was a cut ok it bled a lot but mouths do just that. It's an injury that could happen any time any place so as a parent you need to be confident in your ability to deal with things, that way your daughter won't feel like she is dying because of a cut.

To be fair Lucy, your first post didn't seem to be saying "my child had an accident at soft play and I was really surprised they had no obligation to provide first aid, I checked with the council and they confirmed this, does anyone else think the law should be changed?"

It was a mixture of this and berating and more or less identifying the soft play place, plus your reactions to the accident. I certainly wasn't clear from the OP that you wanted a discussion about duty of care. It dies seem that this was bad customer service but within the law.

I also think it's a bit much to say people on this thread aren't thinking for themselves - they are a different set of people to those on your last thread (which I haven't seen), and you have had a mixture of replies.

Again, I wish your DD a speedy recovery .

Exactly Sirzy, it feels like a lot of hysteria over what really was a relatively minor injury. Your daughter's reaction seems to me to be a reflection of your own attitude.

What did the hospital do?

lucyellensmum, don't rise to the goaders

fanjoforthemammaries indeed :)

Sirzy, that is unfair, i am not saying i WOULD have called an ambulance, i said i might have - i don't drive and if i was in a play area and i couldn't access help i don't see what other choice i would have had. Saying that, most play areas in this area are in areas where i could find assistance if i needed it, and 9 times out of ten id be able to contact my DP to take me to the hospital.

the doctorine I think you make a fair point actually, maybe i didn't word my OP very well, i was angry at the time and venting my spleen. Its a shame really that sort of "bad customer service" is within the law, but i've learnt some valuable lessons.

I stand by my comment that threads seem to follow a trend, maybe i have been guilty of it myself but i have seen it over and over. Maybe it is due to the way the OP is worded, but i honestly think that if you have beligerance at the begining of a thread there is no chance of a sensible discussion.

Wanders off wondering what sort of response i would have got on net mums