Son comes back from school trip with fracture

[debsadoos123]

Hi, first time poster, please be kind. I picked my 14 year old DS up from school at 4pm today after he'd been away for a week skiing. When I got to him he had a makeshift bandage on his wrist and the teacher explained that someone had fallen into him yesterday morning and that my DS complained of extreme pain in his wrist. The said teacher went on to explain that they didn't seek medical attention because if it was broken then my DS wouldn't be able to fly home. They had taken him to a chemist and purchased a bandage and applied it.
By the time we had got home (10 min drive) my son was crying in pain so we went straight to A&E... Long story short, he has fractured a bone in his wrist. He is now in plaster and we have to return in 10 days for a bone scan.
Would I be unreasonable to make a complaint to school about their lack of action and failing to provide a duty of care?

I can't think of a single reason why they didn't phone you?

, if you want to make a formal complaint, you don’t go to OFSTED.

But when a school seriously breaches safeguarding OFSTED do want to know. A normal complaint obviously has to go through the usual complaints route, but significant safeguarding fails are within OFSTED remit. The local authority's LADO also has a role here hence why they should be informed.

Yanbu unreasonable and what they have done is negligent. For negligence to be established for a claim there has to be a duty of care, a breach of that duty and causation. All three have been met, therefore they failed in their care and you have a claim for negligence against them for denying him medical and appropriate treatment which may or may not impact on recovery. (Im a personal injury solicitor).

I’m really surprised at the school handling it like that, usually they err on the side of caution. All the schools in my area ring the parents for it seems like the slightest reason

@Pud2 because what has happened is a breach of duty arising in negligence by a provider who were entrusted with the responsibility for his care. There is a claim here.

I worked ski resorts in my youth. We had many a full leg cast on school trips. Probably 1 a week!

Some were snow coaches and insurance would arrange for flight with 3 seats and seat for teacher to travel. That's why school ski insurance is expensive - but worth it!

If the parent has to fly out then they should have been warned before that a) it wasn't covered by insurance (if it wasn't!) or b) insurance should cover it.

Here it seems like a case where they suspected a fracture rather than him hurting it but seeming ok and not thinking medical advice was necessary.

However my experience was all students who hurt themselves at least saw the resort dr.

Why on earth wouldn't he have been able to fly home? My understanding is it's because of the risk of swelling when in a closed cast but the hospital might have splinted it or put it into a back slab so that it was immobilised but he could still fly.

Regardless, they should have contacted you. If it had been my child I would have gone out to stay with them if they really couldn't fly back.

There is a claim here.

Only if you can show a loss - at the moment you've got 24 hrs' pain (which presumably had pain relief in the same way it would had it been set in plaster).

Since medical professionals don't seem to have made it clear that the delay in receiving medical attention has caused further damage, it might be challenging to prove causation if there are further issues - any complications might have happened anyway.

Had the child gone into shock or had some other complication in the intervening period, then I agree there would be a claim - the duty of care and the breach are clear.

I would have wanted to be telephoned. Im torn actually because I see their point.

But she hasn't even spoken to the school yet! Why threaten them with solicitors to make them take things "more seriously" when for all we know the HT may well take it very seriously indeed! Our HT certainly would.

Parents are not obliged to follow school procedures. They have a prerogative to take another route, i.e. legal of Ofsted. I'm sure you're quite right - the school wouldn't like it. And I wouldn't like my child being denied medical treatment, and left in "extreme pain" for 2 days, without me being informed, because it would have created an inconvenience.

Being told "There, there." by the HT wouldn't really cover it I'm afraid. And I'm not talking about suing, I'm talking about a massive lapse of care that deserves to be investigated properly, and independently.

They absolutely should have sought medical help AND informed you. A possibility he couldn't have flown but they can't have known that for sure...?

If he had to stay out there for a bit I would have simply flown out myself.

There is as yet no evidence that the headteacher won't conduct a robust investigation, because s/he hasn't yet had the opportunity or been contacted by the OP.

First thing is, you need to find out exactly what happened.

Contact the school on Monday and arrange to meet with the Headteacher.

They will need time to find out what happened, as it sounds like there were several possible failures (how the injury occurred, the decision to seek or not seek treatment, informing parents, possibly others you are not aware of) and the school needs to find out where these occurred.

There should have been a system in place whereby a senior member of staff was available in the UK for the staff on the trip to contact in the event of an incident such as this occurring. The decisions taken should have been jointly made, given the implications if the child was deemed not fit to fly (staff to remain, additional accommodation, re-arranging flights, contacting parents), not left to the trip leaders alone who were already running the trip and dealing with the incident.

The Headteacher will need to find out if this system was in place and whether it was used. It's possible that some of the failures were at this point, or at the planning stage, e.g. were there enough staff, leaving the staff on the trip with few options other than to do as they did.

You should expect the Headteacher to inform you of when they will get back to you with their findings, which may be a few days.

If you are not happy after the Headteacher 's investigation, then you need a copy of the school's Complaints Procedures, which will tell you what to do next.

Ps decision to fly home or not should have been made by a medical professional, not by teacher or parent. But parent should have been informed regardless.

Incredibly negligent. I wouldn't let this drop.

Why on earth would he not be allowed to fly?

He would - eventually. But advise is to not fly within 24-48 hours (flight time dependent) of having a cast put on, and then after that it has to be split. It's due to swelling inside a cast.

Def out of order.
You would think schools would be ultra-cautious with any potential breaks etc, and I’m sure he would’ve been able to fly but not with a full cast perhaps. For you not to be informed is terrible.
I’m sure he would’ve had a temporary cast with a gap and then he’d have had to go to fracture clinic here.

They don’t always cast for minor fractures now but will use a splint.

Did your DS not ring or text you to say he had been injured and was in agony?

Aragog

Which is exactly what the rest of my post said

They should definitely have rung you, but it's for the best that your son is home.

My mum thought she had fractured her wrist last year and she was due to fly. The airline just asked that she have half a cast in this case so it could be removed if necessary.
I’m sure a medic would have probably agreed to this as a temporary measure for your ds to fly home. Whatever the outcome he should have been taken to a medic after the accident.
My dd was in Switzerland with guides when a friend had hot chocolate spilled on her arm. She was taken to a medic, probably unnecessarily, as she had a slight red mark. Better to be safe than sorry.

But advise is to not fly within 24-48 hours (flight time dependent) of having a cast put on, and then after that it has to be split.

It often goes further than advice, it’s quite possible/probable an airline’s operations manual actually states thatbcarriage inside those time constraints is prohibited ..

In that case discussion of whether a Doc/teacher or even parent could give permission to fly is a bit irrelevant.

@Pud2 because what has happened is a breach of duty arising in negligence by a provider who were entrusted with the responsibility for his care. There is a claim here

Thanks for clarifying @kanga83. I can see there may be a case but I still can’t see what the benefit of claiming would be other than money. It’s not going to alter what happened. I would imagine the HT will be horrified by what’s happened and will ensure there’s a full review of procedures. involving solicitors will surely cause more stress for both the OP and the school, not to mention the financial pressure for the school which is likely to be under-funded like all schools. Whilst they may have insurance, this does not cover solicitor fees and may not cover compensation either.

Some airlines refuse to carry anyone within 24 or 48 hours who has had a fracture, whatever type of cast, Dr's letter you have. I guess it is easier to have a blanket rule than assess each case.