DD fell down at nursery and they didn't call me

[Rudens]

DD (3) has been going to a nursery for 1 year and we haven't had any problems. She's a very cautious toddler and only gets a few bruises during summer when playing outside. She's only had a papercut once at nursery and we had to sign an accident form. I was running late from work today and DH picked DD up today.He picked her up just before closing and the key worker said she's had a fall. They said it was while she was walking down from the stairs and happed on the last 2 steps. She has a big bump on her head and a big bruise that was bleeding below her nose, also she had a nosebleed shortly after. DH was too shocked to ask questions so no idea exactly when it happened but probably just before lunch as DD wasn't eating lunch afterwards and tea either. We're at minor injury unit now to get her checked over. I want to talk to nursery manager tomorrow as I'm really upset that no one called me after it happened. Like I said, she's never been injured like this before and I'm not sure if I'm overreacting or not, but shouldn't nursery call parents when something like this happens? I feel like I can't trust them after this and will just keep wondering at work whether she's ok or not.

This.

I do get a nursery filling in an accident form etc and letting you know. But children do fall over. If my parents had taken us to hospital every time we fell over they would have spent half their life there.
She will fall over again.

I'm a first aider in a school.

I always call parents after a head injury. I tell them the extent of the injury and any symptoms or not. If symptoms that advise checking out I advise them to do so. If they don't show any signs of head injury that require medical attention I tell them it's their call and their child will be monitored and action taken if the situation changes.

A head bump letter is always sent home as policy.

Normally parents will collect and then make their own judgement call on getting advice from nhs. A few times I've advised checking out and all been fine. Once I advised must take to a and e due to x symptoms and although nhs advice is not to call an ambulance in that circumstance we could if they wished us to. They took child in who had a hairline fracture of skull.

So I'd say it's very good practice to call a parent and be open about the situation as a whole. But you don't need to advise urgent care if they show none of the symptoms of a head injury.

Hope she's ok.

@BelindaBears @Guis23

She has concussion! :/ don't you think that's worthy of a call and trip to see a doctor?

Some worrying advice on here. OP knows her DD best and took her to see a doctor just as NHS online advises

a change in behaviour, like being more irritable or losing interest in things around you (especially in children under 5)

I’d be looking for a new nursery .

@OhNoitsHappenedAgain being under staffed is illegal , and underpaid does not matter , all head injuries major or minor should be documented and phone call home stating how it happened and how the child is
staff should have pediatric first aid training

Well , you are right it is better to be safe than sorry.
Concussion as I understand it is where you lose consciousness. And some head bumps are indeed serious. But I would have expected the nursery to act fast and to need to if that was the case.

If you are concerned the nursery aren't following their own procedures, and that they didn't act appropriately in first aid/communicating with you about the accident, then definitely complain to Ofsted.

BUT - Ofsted aren't really a 'complaint service' in that they won't act for you, or try to prove or disprove what happened. They are a regulator, and use complaints from parents as something to help them assess whether nurseries are meeting the legal requirements and providing appropriate levels of care. So you won't get Ofsted coming back and saying yes the nursery was wrong, we told them to do XYZ. You won't hear anything back about your particular complaint.

Ofsted would either write to the nursery owner and say we had a concern relating to accidents/supervision/communication with parents, what are your policies in these areas and what do you do about that. They effectively leave it to the nursery owner, who is responsible for meeting legal requirements, and will follow it up and review the action taken at next inspection. Or if they judge it to be more serious, they may bring forward an inspection, and pay particularly close attention to accident records, asking staff what they do about injuries and so on. If Ofsted think the nursery isn't meeting requirements and takes enforcement action, that gets published next to the inspection reports.

Side note: if you complain to a nursery manager about an issue, leave unsatisfied, and then next week they get a letter from Ofsted saying "we've had a complaint about accidents..." then they will probably put two and two together about where the complaint came from. If you are unhappy and withdrawing your child you may not care! But if you are keeping your child there and want to maintain a relationship with staff, something to consider.

You do not have to lose consciousness to have concussion.
The A/E Doctor told my DIL that our grandson had concussion following an accident at home. He was sick multiple times after the injury. The Doctor described concussion as bruising to the brain. After a CT scan he was allowed home. Was monitored for 24 hours & advised to let him engage in quiet play only for 48 hrs. Did not return to nursery for a few days.
Your DD’s nursery was definitely wrong not to call you. Clearly they didn’t follow their own policy.
I would no longer have confidence in their ability to keep my child safe.

This

Concussion as I understand it is where you lose consciousness

The weirdest thing I've read today! If thats how you understand it then you don't understand at all 😊

At the end of the day, your trust has gone, so what would I do? Take her out.

Crikey, yes I'd expect a call for that... my DD is Y2 and we get a call for every head bump, no matter how small or trivial... including the time the dozy mare ran face first into the goal post! 😂
Hope shes ok and on the mend quickly though!

Head injuries should be reported to the parent straight away, they should be told to collect the child and advised to be checked at the hospital to be on the safe side x

I'd be looking for a new nursery. It's bad enough that they didn't call, but they are then trying to downplay the incident.

Inform ofsted and maybe look for a new nursery, I work in child care and every head injury must be reported starting away. X

For those saying these parents were over reacting going to A and E they were 100 % not, head injuries can change so quickly, Natasha Richardson had no symptoms at first, refused hospital treatment,then got a headache and died.
I'm first aid trained, any head injury get it checked, it's better to be safe than sorry. X

Report it, it’s unacceptable. I would also be informing other parents at nursery that I was friendly with. I’m guessing this is not an isolated incident. Def take her out. They aren’t even bothered to be held accountable for a child.

They should have called you for a head injury. Last month the secondary school called me as my 13 year old had bumped his head!

This happened to my DD around 5 years ago, she was 2 and in nursery, like you her dad picked her up and was too shocked to ask questions as he just had a form thrust in his face to sign and was ushered out quickly.

She had fallen down a set of stairs, had burst open her mouth, scraped her nose and had a bruise on the side of her head running down to her eye.

It had happened around 2 hours before we were collecting her, she had cried for that 2 hours.

We pulled her out that day, i sent them a huge email, never paid my fees for that month, or my one months notice or my cancellation fee.

They never even questioned it, i think they were just happy to get rid of me and hoped that would be the end of it.

To be honest there was a few red flags like every time we came to collect she was crying, she had her jacket on in the room as if she was all ready for us but we collected at different times between 4 or 5pm so i wondered how long she had been sitting in her jacket for, she also came back filthy, and im talking like her face her arms everything with either white paint or mud, its as if they never washed her.

The nursery was shutdown about 6 months later then taken over by a larger well known chain