What would you expect school to do when child breaks a bone at school?

[ThatlittlebellwentBOING]

Just wondered what you would expect from the school.
My child broke her arm at school yesterday and when I got called I was told it looked broken. I got their as soon as I can which still took me 20 minutes. They were holding her arm for her with an obvious bend in it.
I wondered if it should have been stabilised by a first aider into a sling as leaving school holding it and getting into car was so difficult. They said they would have but had no slings at school? They had given an ice pack.
It seemed such a long time til I could get there and no one could get there sooner. My parents wondered why they didn’t call a paramedic.
I’ve never dealt with these issues before and wondered what would considered a normal procedure to follow.
Thanks

( child has arm in a cast now it was badly broken by a simple fall)

i would have expected them to call an ambulance.

Calling a paramedic seems excessive for s broken arm!
I think they did what they could, what I would have done if it had happened at home anyway. They rang you immediately and did their best to stabilise it. A sling might not have been the best idea anyway depending how it was broken.

Seek medical help, call me when convenient.

I wouldn’t expect them to call 999 unless your DD lost consciousness or was bleeding. A broken arm doesn’t need an ambulance.

I would have expected the phone call from the school to tell me that an ambulance had been called, and which hospital my child was being taken to.
If this had happened at home, no doubt child protection would be involved. Do they get involved for incidents at school too?

I agree that a broken arm doesn't necessarily need an ambulance, but I would have expected one to be called if she was in significant pain or if it would have taken you much longer to arrive.

I wouldn’t expect them to call 999
A broken bone is a 999 call. You don't know what damage has been done until the professionals have had a look , or if the person is going to go into shock or whatever

If this had happened at home, no doubt child protection would be involved

Why?

Child protection don’t get involved whenever a child breaks a bone at home.

Had no slings ? That’s shocking. In my old school they would have been seen by a first aider assessed and the office told to call parents whilst sling was applied. If no slings then good old fashioned button it into cardigan use a tie /scarf anything to immobilise the bone. That’s not very good at all. Calling paramedic would be useless you would have got there before them as she would have been very low priority. I’d be asking who the first aider is and why the first aid kit has no slings. Hope your dd is ok

@Ammy82.....why on earth would child protection be involved for a broken arm?!
And if you think an ambulance would have turned up any quicker than 20 mins for a broken arm you’re dreaming. It’s not a medical emergency and not something that scarce resources should be used for.

And I would not expect an ambulance - given the shortages those need to be kept for emergencies, which this clearly wasn’t.

Besides, I’m sure you were able to get her to hospital before any ambulance would even have got there.

A child with a broken arm sitting with a school nurse, who has a mother capable of driving her to hospital, is definitely not apriority.

A broken arm absolutely does not require an ambulance or 999 call. However, the school absoluteld should slings to put it in for support and I'm surprised they don't. We have also filled in a medical form that gives permission to give medication when necessary such as in this situation.

If this had happened at home, no doubt child protection would be involved

No, they definitely wouldn’t.

My two have broken 5 bones between them, including arms, which all necessitated trips to the urgent care centre.

We’ve never had child protection involved.

No broken or suspected broken limb needs an ambulance unless a bone is sticking through the skin. It's absolutely not an emergency. And no, 'child protection ' would not really be interested in a broken arm. The hospital will ask how she has done it and that will probably be all. Twist fractures on the other hand may arouse suspicions.

An ambulance for a broken arm? That is totally unnecessary and one of the reasons why there are such long waits for ambulances. School will have a trained first aider, keeping the arm stable would be correct and then taking the child to hospital which as you were able to collect and do school did what was needed. Surprised they had no sling though.

I would have expected them to fashion a sling from something in the lost & found tbh.
if it's a real bad break, like when the hand is discolouring due to restricted bood flow or if the skin is broken, I would expect someone from the school to take the child to a&e

I disagree - if the ambulance was called they could administer pain relief.

It may not be safe for the child to sit in a car with a seat belt on

I would expect an ambulance

at ambulance. I think it’s high time some people were given basic training in when exactly it’s appropriate to call an ambulance.

All a paramedic would give is calpol.

It's absolutely not an emergency
Define an emergency for someone who isn't trained in emergencies. If unsure, surely the safest thing to do is ring 999. If you're wrong, they can give you a bollocking. If they tell you that you are wrong, but it turns out that you were right, they can carry the can

I disagree - if the ambulance was called they could administer pain relief

Given how low priority a child with a broken arm, in a safe place at school, with a trained first aider would be, she would definitely have received pain relief far more quickly by the mother taking her directly to hospital.

An ambulance would have taken hours to get there, depending on the workload they had that day.

I would expect the school to have a competent first-aider and a properly equipped first-aid kit. I would expect them to get my child to hospital as quickly as reasonably possible and to ask me to meet them there to take over (unless for some reason it was clear that I could pick them up and get to hospital faster than the school could get them there). This is exactly what happened when my child was injured at school and I felt it was entirely reasonable.
In your situation I would be querying the school's first aid provision and procedures which don't sound sufficient to me.

I am a trained first aider, a few weeks ago I sat on the floor at work for over 2 hours with a lady who was having seizures waiting for an ambulance. How quickly do you think they would arrive for a broken arm?

I think it’s high time some people were given basic training in when exactly it’s appropriate to call an ambulance.
A suspected broken bone sounds like an ambulance to me. Or do you expect someone to get on a bus to get to a hospital?

Define an emergency for someone who isn't trained in emergencies. If unsure, surely the safest thing to do is ring 999

But this is a school. They will be up to their ears in risk assessments. Plus, they have a school nurse, a trained medic.

They are perfectly able to define what situation is an emergency. And this definitely wasn’t.