Child injured in nursery...

[loopymoomoo]

I am aware this isn't really an aibu but there seems to be an awful lot more traffic on this page...

My DD (2yrs) loves her nursery, she goes mon-weds full days for me to work and she has always loved it and still does.

The problem we have is that on the 1st October she had an accident there, we had a accident form given to DH when he collected her saying she had had a fall and cut her lip but was fine... this is no surprise as DD is very active and does fall/run into things/jump off steps etc.... apparently the accident was at 5pm and DH collected at 5.30.

He walks through the door with a very serious look on his face and says 'now don't panic but'.... her front top tooth is hanging out and she has a huge purple egg on her head, but she's absolutely in herself fine telling me she fell over in nursery and goes running off looking for her doll. I get doll and put DD in the car and head off to A&E.

DH phones the nursery and speaks to the manager that doesn't know anything about the accident but finds out for us, so we are told she's fallen off the bouncy castle and the girls were surprised as although her gum was bleeding she wasn't upset at all (she's a tough cookie!)

Eventually get seen by a triage nurse and she can't believe this has happened and is interrogating me about the severity of the injuries, luckily I grabbed the accident form on the way out of the door and showed her that, she was lovely to me just taken aback with the injuries.

So after about 1.1/2 hours with the nurse and a lovely Dr who has totally got DD's trust he manually pushes the tooth back into the gum, queue lots of screaming and DD attaching herself to me. They were quite happy it might be saved but to go to the dentist the next morning and keep her topped up with pain relief as she will be in pain.

Arrive at the dentist the next morning first thing and although DD has been a few times with me and been checked herself she goes ballistic, dentist says its probably because she thinks he will do what the Dr did the night before. I have an appointment for an xray on the 6th Nov to see if its settled as we couldn't really do much else. If it is damaged or will damage the teeth behind then he wants it taken out. The dentist again tells me that this is 'one hell of a whack she's had'.

I went to the nursery after the dentist to tell them what had happened and they showed me - she fell off a bouncy castle (albeit a small one) that was inside on a hard floor with no mats around it, so she fell off it face first onto a hard floor (think a canteen floor). Since the accident DD has come home and told me that the bouncy castle has a hole in it so its in the box in the cupboard...

The tooth is a little wobbly but hasn't turned black, the gums have healed but over the last two days DD has been telling me her tooth hurts and has been showing it to me by lifting her lips up, so I've given calpol here and there when she complains but have tried not to mention it to her.

I have had lots of advice from family/friends as to what they would do in my position, some I have ignored and other bits I have thought about more closely. Do not get me wrong I totally understand that accidents happen, especially to a very active 2 year old but it still is not sitting well with me that any adult would think a bouncy castle is ok without mats around it or that no-one mentioned the egg on her head or the tooth that was hanging out...

The nursery has a very good reputation and I must say I haven't had any reason to complain before but I really don't know what to do. My husband says we should write a letter of complaint but I have no idea what to say, I also worry that if we took it further it might change the level of care that DD is currently receiving?

Any advice?

Sorry this is so long!

Dd2 injured a baby tooth - it was slightly displaced and died - it was discoloured but not too dark. It lasted until she was 7 but she started getting comments at school from misinformed little knowalls that her tooth was like it because she didn't brush them and she ate too many sweets - not true. It was a bad year in other ways too. In many ways it was much better once the tooth came out so do be aware that the tooth may survive but may not look pretty in photos etc. Take the advice of the dentist - ours was keen to keep it in but either way it it might won't look as it did before. It's fallen out now and lovely adult teeth are coming in.

Greenbananas Ofsted definitely don't require appropriate medical treatment. From personal experience a serious accident occurred to my dc at nursery. They took dc to minor injuries clinic in a car which was unable to cope and resulted in an emergency transfer to a regional hospital. Ofsted were happy that the nursery had

Greenbananas Ofsted definitely don't require appropriate medical treatment. From personal experience a serious accident occurred to my dc at nursery. They took dc to minor injuries clinic in a car which was unable to cope and resulted in an emergency transfer to a regional hospital. Ofsted said that the nursery had done everything that they required and didn't need to call an ambulance in the event of an accident - the only requirement is to get some kind of medical assistance.

Virtually the same thing happened to my DS yesterday. He was running at after school club and bashed his face on the steps. He knocked out one front tooth and loosened the other. His lip was split and sore. A member of staff took him to the minor injuries clinic themselves. They were told nothing to be done to the tooth that fell out (DS is only 4 so was still a baby tooth). No question of the tooth being put back. The wobbly tooth they left and said it seemed fairly well rooted so may stop wobbling or may fall out. But the upshot he has lost his front milk tooth / teeth early but since that won't impact on the adult teeth coming through it isn't anything serious to worry about. They have suggested we take him for an x-ray at the dentist just to double check all is well below the gum but they weren't too concerned. I got a detailed accident report from after school club and another report from the minor injuries clinic setting out recommended treatment. Obviously I was very shaken that this had happened and did wonder if he'd been well enough supervised but I have to say I think the way after school club dealt with the injury was very good.

I hope your DD is OK

What? Nurserys don't need to call an ambulance in the event of a serious accident?

So they can leave babies and toddlers to die as long as a first aided has glanced at them????

They have to seek appropriate medical treatment, this may be a ambulance in the event of a serious injury or it may just be a first aider checking them over. It really is down to the staff who are in charge, and they will have to justify their decision if anything happens...I am a trained paediatric first aider and childminder but I would much rather call for a medical professional!

As hospital treatment was necessary, I believe the accident will be reportable (riddor) to the HSE.
My dd was taken to hospital by the nursery and operated on. They completed the riddor forms. My details were on there and I got a letter back with the conclusions drawn from the report. It was deemed accident rather than negligent because they lied on it. I did call the HSE to try and rectify this but the age of my dd (3) was against us in her stating what had happened.
Do write a letter of complaint if you feel it warrants one as these have to be made available to OFSTED.

creamtea, you say "from personal experience" and it sounds like you have had a very bad experience indeed! Obviously I can't comment without knowing the details, but I do think you have been left with a horribly inaccurate idea of what childcare providers must do to keep children safe.

I'm a childminder (returning to work after a long maternity leave) and have spent the whole week updating my policies and procedures, checking on the Ofsted website when necessary. I am trained in paediatric first aid and safeguarding / child protection. I can tell you for very certain that Ofsted require appropriate medical attention to be given. This might well involve calling an ambulance if a child needs an ambulance!

For example, if a child fell off a climbing frame and injured their neck or back? Or had a major bleed which wouldn't stop? Or had an allergic reaction? Or had an unexplained seizure? Or if they had any symptoms that the first-aider didn't understand.

Sometimes, it's not easy for nurseries to make the right call. For example, any 'normal' bump to the head can turn out to be quite nasty, but most children get a (sometimes impressive) bruise then recover. In that situation, we use our best judgment, and tell parents exactly when to call for medical help if needed.

I think the problem with the OP's situation is the lack of safety precuations in the first place.

Well, they didn't try to hide it (as they gave your DH the forms) and these things happen. Those egg shaped bruises sometimes take about half an hour to come up. It was quite a bit of an oversight to put the bouncy castle on a hard surface but perhaps they didn't really have a protocol for this before (will now I'm sure) or end of day and staff tired etc.

Not sure what would be achieved by reporting.

Report it to your local environmental health department. It's not reportable under RIDDOR as she wasn't taken to hospital directly from the scene of the accident.

I agree you need to meet with the nursery manager to ask how they have reviewed their safety measures and also their assessment of your dd's accident and their communication with you. Unfortunately a nursery that does things excellently most of the time can be let down by one teacher's sloppiness on one occasion. A good manager will be very keen to be very open with you.

Greenbananas the local authority and police were involved due to the seriousness of the injuries. Ofsted accepted the nursery's mitigation that a car was the quickest way to get her to the minor injuries unit as that met the requirement to get medical help. The fact that they didn't dial 999 or take into account the suitability of the clinic for treating the injuries was not an issue for Ofsted.

OP - have the nursery gone through their risk assessments with you and outlined what steps they are going to take in future? I would report the incident to the local authority and tell them what the nursery is planning to do. The LA have a reasonable idea how good nurseries are but they won't be aware of this type of incident. Reporting it would help them spot a trend if this was not an isolated incident.

You may also wish to review the consent forms you signed when they joined and amend it to say what you expect to be done in the event of a head injury (or serious injury)

Hi

I am deputy Manager of a Pre-School. You and your husband need a meeting with the Manager and a copy of the risk assessment. There is noway you would set an activity up like this without adequate matting, it is questionable it should have been on a canteen type floor full stop.
I would have referred this straight to my manager who would have phoned you and invited you in straight away to discuss the option of the child going to hospital. Our parents always sign the accident form before the child leaves.
HTH and I hope she is okay, one of my twins smackered her tooth on gravel when she was tiny, she is 8 now and said tooth is just starting to get loose, but we have had problems I would second the not shoving it back in, but I am no dentist.....

And we do have to do risk assessments for Ofsted, written for every session, morning and afternoon....

That first post should say
*no way
*Smacked her tooth

sorry with sausage fingers perhaps I should stay away from kids ....