Really angry, say something or over reacting?

[aawcmon]

My DD has just started high school and is loving it so far. She has asthma which is well managed, but she always carries her blue inhaler just in case of emergencies. Today, she had a really bad attack for the 1st time in years. I got a phone call from school office saying can you come and collect your daughter, she's feeling a bit breathless. I arrive at school within 20 mins and was shocked to see the state she was in. She was struggling for breath and was crying. She didn't have any adults sitting with her, only her friend from class. Reception staff couldn't have been less interested if they'd tried, I received no background info to what could have triggered the attack. DD had taken her blue inhaler multiple times, but it did not help.... DD was in such a state, I phoned doctor's office who advised me to take her to A&E straight away. We ended up being in hospital most of the day on nebulisers, steroids, x-rays, and she will need on going checks this week as her lung capacity is still not ideal. I am so angry with the school, it was obvious just by looking at her that she was in distress and to leave her by herself, she was panicking and exacerbating the issue. Should I bring this up with school or leave it (DD doesn't want me to do anything as she's scared teachers won't like her as much if I complain)

Absolutely complain. When ds1 was in year 7 he started having asthma symptoms. His school wouldn't let him back until I had been in and met the school nurse. She showed me at the action plans they had in place for asthma attacks and wrote notes on what we discussed.
When ds1 went back to school they went through it all with him too.
You and your dd need to know that if this happens again she'll be looked after. Ask to speak to her head of year and the school nurse. I hope she feels better soon

Do you know who the school nurse is? The nurse should be involved in your daughter's care plan. I've just read the link about Sam Linton and it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened.

I'm a first aider in school. I'm also a TA....I'd be sent back to class to continue my classroom work rather than be sitting with a child...

I would go into that meeting and ask, "how do you think things went yesterday?". Make them spell out exactly why they made the choices they did. Make them actually say "yes I think we dealt with that situation appropriately" (in which case you can, uh, educate them) or "we didn't deal with that correctly" in which case you can move on to how they can fix things.

I would definitely want to watch them squirm though, and clutch at straws trying to explain just what the hell they were thinking.

You are not over reacting at all. The school are in the wrong here.
i hope your daughter feels better soon - the staff all need training , the sooner the better.

The last time I read a situation like yours, OP, the child died. Please get your GP to write an official letter to the school about what they should have done, their responsibilities and what has to be done if this happens in future.

Complain. Loudly. People die from asthma attacks. How scary for your daughter, and her young friend.

I hope she is ok today.

Bloody horrifying. I'm so glad your DD is ok now, OP.

I can't believe that the school were so slack. Even I know that an asthma attack that doesn't ease after a few goes on an inhaler is a life-threatening emergency, and I haven't done any first aid training since I was at school in 1970!

The school needs a rocket up its arse, and an incident report should be made.

I am the most uncomplaining person ever when it comes to schools and shit happening but I would definitely definitely complain about this. It's absolutely critical that the school understand their obligations and duty of care when your dd has an asthma care plan.

I may be scarred by my recollection of a classmate dying at school when I was at secondary school. The school in that case couldn't have done more really. They were prompt, careful, ambulance called and first aid given entirely appropriately. Completely no blame. And still everyone felt absolutely devastated and shaken. You would be doing the school a favour so that you are helping them not be in the position of having to defend rubbish care, not necessarily with your own child but any of the other asthmatic children in their care, if the worst happened.

Glad your dd is on the mend. Been there with my ds1 more than once its very frightening.

Every time i called nhs 24 about an attack they refered me to nearest ooh and if the nearest one was not manned they sent an ambulance. They never questioned it for asthma especially a child.
Primary school were always fine giving him his inhaler at lunchtime thankfully he never had an atrack at school and had grown out of it bt high school.

Complain big time today the school behaved appalingly how frightening for your dd and her friend. They obviously have no idea how dangerous asthma is.

Agree with Jan you actually have a duty to escalate this in case your dd has another attack or somebody else's child does.

When dd was born a junior staff member was negligent I felt I had to do a formal complaint dd only lived because dh was there and switched on a woman with no partner or a distracted one would have lost her baby. I would have felt awful if I hadn't flagged it.

They should have called an ambulance I think. Presumably this is what it says in her care plan? Asthma can go very very wrong and you need to point this out to them. But there is no rush, take your time, you will be more effective in a day or two when you are calmer and have had time to put together what you want to say.

My sincere thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts. DD had a good night overall, so I'm just letting her rest for a bit longer before we begin the next round of inhaler and steroids treatment. Sorting out my DS just now for primary school then will be dealing with high school. To answer a poster further up, the reason I did not kick off there and then was because I had other priorities at the time!!

Bath
Your school would leave a child struggling to breath having a severe asthma attack in the care of an 11yr old? Wow. As a first aider why wouldnt you question this? Maybe you should press your head teacher for an proper effective asthma policy before a child dies?

Terrifying OP.
Your child's luge was put at risk, the school need some urgent education!

I found similar thing happened with my oldest who has type 1 diabetes. He had a hypo and was told to walk to the medical room to get his sugar/choc/biscuit supplies . I had to explain that having a hypo meant that a swift trot to the supplies could mean total collapse. In the end we agreed that keeping choc etc on hand was better even if annoying for other kids. ( They seemed to place more emphasis on the other kids getting cross about not being able to eat in class rather than explaining to them)The general problem I found was that many have no idea about hypos/hypers/asthma or any other chronic condition. Please complain loudly today, your child's health is their overwhelming duty when they are in loco parentis , even common sense should apply. Hope all is ok.

I think a lot of people don’t understand asthma can kill. This school needs education fast before anything worse happens.

I'm with others who have said an ambulance should have been called. I would have been horrified and distressed beyond belief to have found my dearest child in such a state. And her poor friend too. Can you contact her parents about this for added support? I also agree to get the doctor to write a letter to the school explaining in no uncertain terms the outcomes of leaving an asthmatic in such distress.

I once had a safeguarding issue regarding my daughter in Yr 12, so Sixth Form. In the end it involved the police and her ex primary school as well. (She went missing and they failed to report that she had not signed in, in the afternoon - the school insisted I need not be informed of this). It turned out she was fine - another story. However the police and the primary school wrote a letter each to the school regarding alerting parents to non signing in.

The rules have now been changed regarding registration for sixth formers in Yr 12 in both schools in the town I live.

I'm a first aider in school. I'm also a TA....I'd be sent back to class to continue my classroom work rather than be sitting with a child...

Bath that is a serious safeguarding issue and considerably negligent.
To put in simple terms of how important it is an asthmatic child is that they are left with an adult, I have asthma. Even as a grown adult, even the Paramedics aren't allowed to leave me unattended until I have been officially 'received' by the hospital.

You are not waiting with a child, you are waiting with a very ill child with a respiratory issue; and I'd be kicking up enormous shit if this was what my DDs school did.

I have a dear friend who was called to collect their child from school around mid morning as they were poorly with their asthma. He was in hospital for the following week and passed away.

Asthma IS this serious. The fact people have managed fine for years doesn't mean they wont the next time. I was fine for 20 odd years before mine kicked in.

Asthma kills. Quickly.

Sorry my point in reference to my friends child I missed out. They were fine for a week after the initial attack. Had another sudden asthma attack days later and there is nothing anyone could have done for the poor lamb. That was in a hospital setting. When it can happen that quickly in an environment where staff know hoe asthma is serious, you can imagine how much worse it is in an environment with people who don't know.

I’m a secondary teacher and I’m shocked this happened. I would definitely be complaining and speaking directly to the head teacher as the fault lies with the reception staff by the sounds of it.

Dd had several bad asthma attacks at school and they would never have treated her like this. It's appalling. The first aiders were amazing with her, one of them was asthmatic himself and was always called if possible as he was so good with her. Several times an ambulances was called by school. Always two members of staff with her until I got there.
The one exception was a science teacher who refused to allow her to get her inhaler, and tried to give her a comment instead, until her friend literally dragged her out of the room and got a first aider. That was one of the ambulance days.
OP, my Dd found science often triggered attacks, she would sometimes walk in a science room and know immediately something had been used in there that would trigger her. School were brilliant and gave her permission to just leave the room no go to the year manager to be allowed to work in the library. PE also sometimes triggered despite her being very active in her sport.
School also made sure ALL her teachers knew to let her leave the room, use her inhaler or get a first aider without delay. If she left a room one of her friends was always sent with her so she was never alone.
I would ask to meet with the year manager and put in place hat ever you and your dd need. Also make sure dd knows to ignore any teacher who stops her using her inhaler or leaving the room etc and to do what she needs to keep herself safe.
You might also find she panics if she feels an asthma attack coming on now after such a bad experience, she and school staff need to recognise this too. My dd responded well to being told to slow her breathing and someone counting slowly to breathe to, it would take a while but if it was panic rather than the asthma not responding to her inhaler it would help slow her down.

Why didn't you go mad there and then?

Protectingmydaughtsrfromfilth

When you are presented with a child with an asthma attack. It is a respiratory issue and a medical emergency.

Usually. Parents are too busy trying to get their Children's breathing under control, calming their very scared child down, administering inhalers as quickly as possible and accessing medical help immediately. There isn't really time to be 'going mad' at the school during a life threatening situation.

Whats particularly upsetting is these clearly well behaved kids trying to be heard by adults in charge but being dismissed and not listened to. Exactly what happened in the Linton case, a friend and a sibling tried to raise the alarm and were brushed off