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)

When I broke my ankle I got the bus to a&e. With the help of some friends but there was no other way. Was it fun? Not really. But needs must.

@letsgetreadytorumba but they can. Or the parent can. All the hospital will do initially is give paracetamol. So if that works, it could have been given earlier and the patient could have had less pain. Or if it doesn't work, that could have been discovered earlier too. It's so annoying when people are in 10 out of 10 pain but haven't taken anything of their own.

No ambulance needed. As a rule of thumb they are for life threatening emergency. So if your dying. A broken arm is not immediatly lifr threatening. Iv sat with old folk on the floor for hours waiting for an ambulance. Sounds to me that the school did there best and you should thank them. Its done now and the staff would have been shaken reguardless of training. We lost a student at our school through having no defid. Air ambulance landed, we did cpr and we saved him to get to hospital but he died 48 hours later. We did pur best

Ambulances are for when you can't safely make it to hospital without medical treatment. In the vast majority of broken arms (including this one) it is perfectly safe for a parent to take a child to the hospital. OP, if you (and all other emergency contacts) couldn't get to school to take your child the school would probably send a member of staff with her.

on site? all day, every school day?

Depends on the size of school but high schools/secondary it's relatively common for number of pupils. Probably an escape from the NHS until funding is cut in schools even more

Ammy82 sounds like she'd call an ambulance after posting on Facebook first. Please don't call ambulances for broken bones unless like others have said there are skin breaks or other reasons to suspect it's serious.

Ammy82 - what are ambulances for then?

for example -
people who have peritonitis, heart attacks, road traffic accidents = you know, the life-threatening sorts of things

@Ammy82

When to call an ambulance

I think the whole call an ambulan e for a broken arm is indicative of the way people tend to treat a&e. How many times do you see postings on fb sat at hospital with dc. Turns out dc has tonsilitis or something that can equally be treated by a Dr, pharmacist or walk in centre. Then people complain they have to wait hours.

No way would I expect an ambulance to be called for a broken arm unless it was bone protruding through the skin! Can the posters who have said they'd dial 999 for one please explain their logic?! No threat to life, condition can't worsen, doesn't affect airways/breathing...

The only time an ambulance should be called is for a thigh bone break, they can be potentially fatal.

I would expect the school to protect and support the arm and contact me immediately. Ideally staff would convey child to hospital and you would meet them there.

I would only expect an ambulance to be called if it was very severe; a protruding bone, blood loss, or if she'd lost consciousness from the fall.

I'd only expect children's services to take an interest it if was something like a spiral fracture, or if there was a history of a lot of injuries.

Im not suggesting they should have called an ambulance. Just it was mentioned to me and I wondered if schools had rules for here things. I felt dreadful that I was far away. And it was just awful seeing my child wailing in pain and knowing they had been for a while and would have a good 15-20 min drive to hospital to suffer to.
No i didn’t know ambulances taking kids from school would be formally reported and I’m not other sure what you mean or what implications this would have?
I wasn’t sure if a sling is a basic first aid kid stable and if in first aid training it is advised in these circumstances to use one on a young (6) child’s arm.
I’m just thinking out loud. Maybe I should have emergency cash in my purse for taxis in these circumstances. I assume they would be happy to take a child wailing in pain

If the school really did have a trained First Aider then I would expect them to have slings.

I’m confused at people mentioning children’s services. For an accident at school? Why? It was witnessed by 20+ children and was clearly an accident

In Scotland. True that school don’t need first aider by law?! I’d be very surprised at that

As a mum I would not be happy with how they dealt with this. I have had several bits of first aid training in my life...the first being as a girl guide. One of the first things we were taught was how to support a suspected broken limb, how to put on a sling and if no sling was available how to fashion one out of things - cardigan, jumper, tie!!! I can still remember how to do this 30yrs on!! The pp who says the staff dealt with the injury as beat they could is simply wrong - they didn’t and to say they were probably shaken too...well tough luck! They’re the adult, supposedly the trained first aider and should have been in control and dealing with the situation correctly, which they didn’t as op’s daughter did not have her limb supported and it doesn’t sound like they had any idea what to look out for that would have turned this into an emergency that required much more immediate attention eg fingers going blue, loss of sensation etc. If I were op I’d be asking to have a meeting with the head to ask about 1. The training first aiders receive 2. How up to date the training is 3. Why they don’t have a sling 4. How they assessed the injury. The schools safe guarding of op’s daughter was lacking and that needs reviewing by the school.

I dont know with regards to schools but certainly in England a first aider is required by law if a business employes over a certain number of people. However in the case of any business dealing with the public such as a supermarket or restaurant ect, the first aider is there for the staff and has no obligation to treat the general public, although of course they usually do.

Can the posters who have said they'd dial 999 for one please explain their logic?!
I am not medically trained. If I don't know what to do, I would call 999 so I can speak to someone who does know what to do. That is what I pay my taxes for.

This January a very elderly man was left lying on a cold floor for 13 hours waiting for an ambulance after he broke a hip.
The chances of an ambulance getting to the school in less than 20 minutes are minimal.

St John's ambulance recommend supporting the broken arm and "where an ambulance is likely to be delayed for more than 1 hour immobilise the injured part". It doesn't sound like the school strayed far from this advice.

Absolutely should follow up regarding lack of appropriate first aid. But seriously- an ambulance? The PP's screeching for that are being over dramatic. It's a walking injury. School called to have child picked up, which is appropriate. Better immobilisation should have been provided and they should be ensuring that happens in future. If you're concerned regarding your distance from the school- do you have an emergency co text who lives closer? Hope she's feeling ok.

An ambulance should only be called for a LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY a broken arm (unless the bone is protruding through the skin) is not a life threatening emergency. When people call for an ambulance un-necessarily it means that they are not available for genuine patients in need. Unfortunately it’s the snowflake generation today that add to this problem

I suspect if you couldn't have got a lift to the school, one of the staff would have taken you and your daughter to A&E.

Would also just correct people with when an ambulance should be called for a broken bone. If the casualty is a stretcher case ie can’t walk/be transported safely by car (this could be due to an arm fracture or hurt back) - regardless of whether their life is in danger then an ambulance should be called. My husband (much younger at the time) sustained a double fracture of his tibia & fibula (both bones of lower leg) - no bones protruding, no blood loss and life not in danger. Obviously agonising pain and a very serious unstable fracture that requires 4 hrs of surgery - ambulance called and he was taken to hospital where he stayed for the next 5 days.

Do you think that a child’s broken arm is more important than someone having a cardiac arrest? Because while the paramedic are conveying your child they could actually be saving a persons life. Note - this is a general post and not aimed at OP in any way

A first aider can’t even give a prescribed inhaler - the casualty has to donit themselves. A parent can give medication but a first aider should not.

It's awful seeing your child in pain but a broken arm is painful and that's just one of those things. Sounds like she was in pain for approximately 40 minutes, unpleasant but a broken arm hurts.
We are over an hour from the hospital so when ds broke his arm it was a wee bit longer getting it seen to. Had no lasting issues and has proudly kept his cast!

Dd had a head injury at school, they called me and I raced down and dealt with it. I'd rather just deal with it myself, they did cuddle her until I got there though because she's tiny and cute the whole class also spent the afternoon making her cards