broken finger?

[inthename]

How do you tell if you've broken your finger - googled it but seems very vague.
Couple of weeks ago a friend dropped one of those large plastic storage boxes full of christmas decorations down her loft ladder; jarring against 3 of my fingers. Whilst 2 seem fine now, whilst the one next to the little finger keeps swelling up and going down, hurts terribly at the knuckle and seems to lock overnight and feel really stiff and tight in the morning. I'm wondering if it could be broken and how to tell? I don't want to waste A&E time, would my GP be able to tell and treat it?

Sounds like you need an xray or a scan on it as it's not settled down. It's best to have it checked out.

Your GP will send you for an X-ray.

Do you have a minor injuries dept near you? They are often less busy than A&E and are more than equipped to deal with ?fracture injuries. They'll just X-ray you and strap it up and send you away with an appt (or a promise of a call with an appt) for the next fracture clinic in outpatients (usually run daily).

Obv if it's not broken they won't bother with the appt