To think that this child needed to go to A&E?

[Petuniasforsally]

I was at a children’s event today. A child fell head first from a height of around a metre onto concrete. I arrived around an hour later and was asked to take a look at the child as I have basic first aid training (though no further medical training). By this time the child had vomited, was struggling to stay awake, seemed quite confused about what had happened & had a noticeably swollen face. I advised the parents to take her straight to A&E but they refused, stating that they had medical backgrounds (though neither of them are doctors) and A&E was ‘pointless’. I did see the child later up & running around but I can’t get it out of my head. This should have been an A&E thing, right?

Abso-bloody-lutely. Didn't even need to finish reading your post.
Impact to head + mechanism of injury = 999

Good grief, yes absolutely A+E.

and I am a doctor.

With the symptoms the poor child was displaying, I really really hope they're OK:(

100% A&E for concussion EVEN if they are A&E doctors.

Medical people can be the worst offenders at not getting their kids seen quick enough in my experience. “They can walk, paracetamol and they’ll be fine”.

I'd have called 999 myself but I appreciate it's not always easy to stand up to others

Yes definitely. Not taking a child to A&E in those circs is neglectful IMO.

Fucking idiots. Truly irresponsible. They simply couldn’t be bothered with the hours waiting, which is a pain, but a necessary one.

Sounds like a barn door A&E job.

Yup, 100% a&e.

Hope the child is ok!

I got to the bit about the dc vomiting and thought yes a&e asap.

But with something like that I would have gone to a&e regardless

Also have basics first aid training

I would have called 999 too.

When they both refused to be responsible adults someone else should have taken over and put the child's interests first.

I am usually on the slightly more relaxed side but yes absolutely should have gone to A&E, there are clear symptoms of concern and a known incident involving the head. Unbelievable that they refused.

Whilst yes, personally I would have taken my dc to a & e for similar, current advice is repeated vomiting after a head injury. A single episode of vomiting advice is to monitor at home. But, I'd ignore that and still take them if worried.

Some people are just idiots.

Parental choice, but not necessarily what I’d do in that scenario

if that had been any of mine when they were young then yes for sure .

So if no vomiting you wouldn't take them?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-injury-and-concussion/

Good list here of things to be aware of, and yes, they should have taken them.

Vomiting is a sign of concussion, very dangerous. I would definitely have called an ambulance.

Those parents are idiots Natasha Richardson banged her head, didn't want to go to hospital and ended up dead later than day.
Hopefully their child is okay, that's neglect if ever I saw it, just because they didn't want to wait in A & E

The problem is with the huge waiting times in A&E I can understand why parents are reluctant. My son banged his head at school and then threw up at home, we waited 8 hours in A&E on horrible uncomfortable chairs, my son was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, it was horrendous and when we were eventually seen they said he seems fine go home

Yes, on balance I would have taken straight to a&e.

Also I'm a reluctant a&e user/ healthcare worker and so there's one exception- if i knew my child always vomited when they were upset. Depending on where I was in the country if this is the case, and if there was a choice of facilities, I might phone 111 and see if they'd advise a particular a&e/ make an appointment within an a&e (if this is offered locally). That way, I might phone 111, continue with day whilst it's arranged and attend 4 hours later and be seen immediately instead of an a&e wait (where my child might get more and more upset and start vomiting again). We've got 2 local a&e's 10 minutes away and one of them works like this out of hours/ weekends and it works really well. But on balance I think I would have actually just a&e'd this. Not worth risking.

No, the mechanism of injury is key here. The child fell a metre onto concrete.

They also displayed visible injuries the head/face and were vomiting within the hour.

I'm very relaxed and have never had either of my very clumsy children checked out after any of their thousands of head bumps of varying degrees of nastiness. I definitely would have in those circumstances though.

I've had no first aid training at all but even I know that after a head injury, vomiting and sleepiness are not good signs. I would absolutely have taken her to A&E. It's very wierd that the parents didn't 😳 I hope the child is ok 😔