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 cannot stand people who think children should suffer unnecessarily. Don't understand them and don't want to

You are being completely disingenuous.

No one wants the child to suffer longer than is necessary. That is why everyone on this thread thinks the parent should drive the child straight to the hospital, because they’ll get seen a hell of a lot more quickly.

I cannot stand people who think children should suffer unnecessarily. Don't understand them and don't want to
Nobody is saying children should suffer.
They are saying the most appropriate response is to support the arm (which may be with or without a sling as both are acceptable depending on the injury) and for a parent to collect their child to seek medical attention.

Option 1 - call an ambulance and have the poor child waiting hours probably long after school for a routine fracture
Option 2 - get parent to collect and the child will be in A&E and probably through x ray and done within 2 hours.

Calling the ambulance and waiting is probably going to be causing a longer wait time and more pain and discomfort.

Some breaks/fractures can require an ambulance. If the injured party is sitting in first aid able to chat etc then it's not a medical emergency.

I have 2 experiences of kid breaking arm bl when not in my care - not in school though.

1st time - I got a call. It wasn’t an obvious break. I went to pick her up and took her to hospital as a precaution. It was broken at elbow. She had an ice pack so it was difficult getting her in / out car but we managed

2nd time - got a call. Childcare provider took daughter to hopsital and I met them there. There was no need for an ambulance even though it was a reasonably bad break.
She had a temporary sling to support the arm. This was good and triage nurse did not remove it before arranging an X-ray. It was pretty obvious where it was broken. Sling also helped me as I was able to see how she was before seeing the actual arm. She was not screaming in pain and only got pain relief at hospital. It was a medical emergency I guess technically and was operated on later that day. But I am glad at how it was handled. She also got to hospital 15 mins maybe after it happened and I met them there at same time

My 7 year old broke her leg at school last year. No ambulance was called. A teacher helped me carry her to the car and then I drove her to Minor Injuries in our town instead of A&E (30 mins away) as she was screaming in pain and I didn't feel I could drive safely in those conditions. No one accompanied me to hospital and no member of staff contacted me that day/evening to see how she was.

It turned out to be a serious spiral fracture of the tibia (she passed out in the waiting room at Minor Injuries with the pain) and she was on morphine day and night for the next two weeks and in a wheelchair for 10 weeks. Her leg looked normal (no bone protruding or awkward angle) and the school had suggested maybe it was just a sprain and joked as she was carried out that she had a low pain threshold. At the end of the day they are not experts in this field so if in doubt and especially where children are concerned I think an ambulance should be called (even to discuss the injury and advise what level of responders should be dispatched).

When the dust settled I was told by the school that they only call ambulances in life-threatening situations. But if a child can't be transported safely to hospital and is in that degree of pain how can that be right. They resisted giving me the accident report and when I did receive a copy it was wrong. The hospital said an ambulance should have been called to take her to A&E where she probably would have been operated on (thereby speeding her recovery). All the school were worried about was their potential liability. The after care at school wasn't great (staff objected to me parking in the car park in snow/ice to wheel out my child) but that's for another day!

They should have taken her to A&E. I'd be very cross they left her in pain with an obvious break for that long without seeking proper medical care.

I'm a TA and a trained first aider. Calling an ambulance for a broken arm or leg when the child is reasonably otherwise okay IS excessive and a complete waste of EMS time.

Much quicker to phone parents and have them come take the child to hospital straight away rather than waiting hours for an ambulance.

Of course, if we could not contact the parents or if we knew the parents would struggle to get their child to the hospital because for example they don't drive, then we would make arrangements to drive the child there instead.

In regards to the sling issue, we don't have them at the school either, because slings are no longer taught on paediatric first aid courses, mainly because you can do more harm than good, and because an injured person will naturally place their injured limb in such a way as to protect it and make themselves more comfortable.

School first aider here - depends on how serious and what state the child was in.
We'd put the arm in a sling unless it made it more uncomfortable or child didn't want it. Usually yes though.

Would not call an ambulance unless unable to move the child/serious bleeding/unconscious or looking very unwell.

I don't think 20mins is a particularly long time to wait. If a parent couldn't get there within a reasonable time though, we might take the child to A&E/the walk in centre with a member of staff.

Just to add - every time we have called for an ambulance, we've waited a LOT longer than 20mins. Even when the child has been writhing around in agony.

And, this thread reminds me of why it is so hard to get first aiders. So much criticism.

This happened to a friends son aged about 5. Mum was called, she was about 45 minutes drive away. School took him to the local MIU and I was phoned by my friend to go and keep him company until mum was able to get there. He was quite upset so it was good I went. I would expect the school to let you know and ideally meet you at MIU/ emergency department as soon as you could get there.

Thank you for all the replies.
I don’t think I will be complaining to the school.
I think I would have lost my head if it happened in front of my eyes so they were probably a lot calmer for her than I could have been.
I will ask why they had no slings and if they are trained not to use now.
I’m on the fence with the ambulance debate. Not in this circumstance but some of the ones described sound so awful. Pain relief really needs to be a priority.
To the lady who’s child broke their leg and she then went into labour your story brought a tear to my eye.
I hope everyone is well and recovered from their broken bones!

From this thread we’ve had anecdotes of going to hospital in own car with fractures and also mention of the risk to nerves, blood supply and that’s why an ambulance must be called. There is argument for both approaches and common sense is required

This is from a uk parliamentary briefing re A&E attendance
“Table B summarises the most common recorded first treatments of those attending A&E. Of all valid records, almost 38% of attendances resulted in guidance or advice, and a further 11% resulted in no treatment - totalling almost half of recorded attendees.”

So 50% of attendance ended in advice or no treatment required. To me that indicates that a lot of people have no insight/perspective or ability to judge a situation and decide if it needs treatment so they present as an EMERGENCY.

Having worked for years in A&E I’ve seen people arrive very distressed convinced they are in a scene in Holby city, preparing for their imminent surgery, pondering what colour cast they’d like and how they’ll manage the next few weeks disabled... an X-ray later and they’re laughing and joking walking out of the hospital. Hysteria has taken over where common sense once prevailed.

In the 60s and 70s parents probably said “Get up, can you stand on it?” Nowadays we have NHS websites which inevitably discusses a range of scenarios and readers decide on a response according to the “what if” worst case scenario. We also have medical real life documentaries which also dramatise everything in an exciting way. I think this has led to a loss of common sense and a rise in hysteria.

Some fractures need an ambulance. Some don’t. If you think 999 is the only response then you probably do need to exercise a bit more rational thought. Personally I’d always choose to get myself to hospital rather than wait the ages it will take for an ambulance. If I can’t do that...I suspect I really do need an ambulance!