6 year old, had accident, need advice please

[lostmumsarah989]

Hi, it's been a very long time since I posted and not even sure this is the right place. Anyway here goes..
So I was in a restaurant a few days ago with my mum, nan and 6 yo lo. My mum took her into the toilets for a wee before we were leaving. Unfortunately my daughter had managed to get her hand stuck in the door of a toilet cubicle (sorry to be graphic) but she ripped the top part of her finger off. My mum placed it back on and put a wet clump of tissue over it to try and stem the bleeding and keep it together, they both came running out. Mum went straight to get ice and I stayed with my lo to attempt to calm her down. A person from behind the bar came over and said he was going to get a nurse who was working, another guy came over and had a look and then a lady who said she was a first aider. Anyway we took the tissue off and realised just how bad it was. With her she bought a first aid box which had next to nothing in, literally a few odd plaster. When she realised none of this was going to help, she told another member of staff to go and get "the decent first aid kit for the staff" So I guess my question here is should they not have had a 'decent' first aid kit in the first place for whatever use may be needed as they are a restaurant. I'm not sure on what there policies are on accidents in a public restaurant . I know it's random but any help on this would be brilliant as I'm not entirely convinced they did enough to help as I even had to wrap the wound myself (even if it was only temporary for the car journey to nearest hospital and to try and reduce the amount of blood she was losing), I do know first aid but am not a qualified first aider.

Complain! I would they should have called an ambulance if it was that bad, and had a first aid kit well enough equipped to deal with it if only temporary, and should at least be taught the basics (breathing,wounds, burns etc)

If it was bad enough to require an ambulance, as the parent I would have called it.

Sometimes it's best to accept that whilst things could have been better, in an emergency things don't always go as we'd want.

I hope your DD is recovering.

We ended up at the hospital all night, she broke her finger and had to have surgery on it the next day. I did go back in and make clear I wasn't happy but was told by the manager that it is not a legal requirement to have a full first aid kit for the customers and that we were lucky the girl who dealt with it did anything at all. Tried offering my lo a free dessert as way off apology, she politely decline as she's lost her appetite since the operation and because of the pain medication she's on

I would honestly take it further, what's the harm? At least you know you have let them know and they may well provide the place with full first aid kits at the very least!

I don't think they do require a first aid box for patrons only for staff. They will be covered by their public liability insurance.

I'm.sorry your poor DD had such a horrendous accident :( hope she gets well soon

I'm afraid they are right technically. They are only obliged to provide both a first aider and a first aid box as part of the duty of care to the staff. and the requirements are pretty minimal, it depends on how many staff they have as to what they have to have available.

a Google of health and safety regs and first aid stuff will probably explain better.

But I hope she recovers well it sounds horrible

In hindsight I do agree an ambulance should have been called but as a parent, seeing my lo in that state and trying not to panic myself, my first instinct was to get her to the hospital as quick as possible and at that time I just bundled her into the car and drove straight there myself. Looking back on it probably not the quickest way to be seen by a medical professional . I just hope that if this was to happen again to some one else's child or even a different type of injury that they too would be looked after with the right first aid tools. My LO is doing very well thank you she was very brave and surgery went as well as could be expected, she had an open fracture and they had to re-attach the finger tip, and nail bed. The surgeon was very optimistic that she will make a very good recovery but will probably have a deformed nail. That's the waiting game I guess. I'm very glad as it could have been a lot worse :)

they should however have completed some sort of incident/accident form and reported it, esp as she required hospital treatment. I would follow up and check they did and ask if there is a plan to fit something to prevent it happening again

The restaurant does not have a legal responsibility to have first aid arrangements in place for public, although most do. However, as you took your daughter directly to hospital following an accident on their premises they do have a responsibility to report it under RIDDOR (Regulations around reporting certain categories of accident to the relevant enforcing authority - google it if you want more info). You have every right to check whether they did this and ask for a copy of the report form. If they didn't, and refuse to, then report them to the HSE or Local Authority if you are unhappy and are inclined to do so.

They should also have investigated the accident to establish whether there was an issue with the cubicle door that caused or contributed to the injury. They may not tell you the outcome of this though as they will be worried about a personal injury claim.

Goodness, this is very interesting for me as I was wondering where the organisation I work for stands in regards to support workers administering first aid at family learning sessions. Our H and S expert had advised that we don't provide ANY sort of first aid as we would open ourselves up to this kind of thing if it wasn't seen to be good enough, however, someone else stated that there have been no successful prosecutions in twenty years as surely it's better that we try to do something to help rather than nothing. Sometimes accidents happen and it isn't actually anyone's fault. I really don't know what is to be gained by complaining about a first aid kit when there was no legal obligation to give any help.

iirc a man recently died due to a food allergy and there was no first aid kit on site. The restaurant was not penalised for this.

I'm a childminder and attended a first aid course as part of my qualification.

To be honest, there's not much else that needs to go in a first aid box, mine is half empty, as you are only allowed to use water and bandages on a wound. You need gloves for your own protection and can put some scissors in the box for cutting the bandage and some of that tape for holding the bandages in place, but there isn't really anything else you'd need.

I imagine things like saline for washing eyes out might be kept handy in the kitchen, but again, with running water literally on tap, there isn't really a lot more you can do for any kind of wound other than rinse it or dab with wet cloth and wrap it, so the requirements for a kit are minimal. Not sure what else you were expecting to find in there really.

What are you trying to gain by making this complaint? Are you expecting compensation? Be honest ........ accidents happen and the health and safety culture in this country is beyond a joke. I appreciate it is a horrible accident but your DD could just have easily had the same sort of accident in your bathroom at home.

The onus was surely on you to call an ambulance for your child??

She needed surgery - no first aid kit was going to cut it realistically. Sounds like ot was dealt with wirh minimal fuss and without the need for an ambulance.

iirc a man recently died due to a food allergy and there was no first aid kit on site. The restaurant was not penalised for this.

But how could a first aid kit help him? A few bandages and a plaster can't help anaphylaxis. Unless they're allowed to keep adrenalin these days. IME (which is old) we weren't allowed to keep even a painkiller in the first aid kit.

I don't think you should beat yourself up about not calling an ambulance you got her to the hospital that's all the matters .

Although the legally only require a full first aid kit for their staff , I think that as a common curtesy to their paying customers , they should do the most that they can do to help in an emergency .

Get well soon to your dd !

rowna I can't remember the whole story but I remembered being surprised by it. I think there were reports of the staff not wanting to do anything to help in case they got it wrong.

It is like when someone needs CPR and people are concerned about breaking a rib. You can't die from a broken rib...

I think there were reports of the staff not wanting to do anything to help in case they got it wrong.

Fair enough! The staff worked in a restaurant not a hospital!

OP there is very little you would find in a first aid box which could have helped your daughter. It was a horrible accident but that is what it was. An accident. Making a complaint seems like a really crap thing to do - think you are just displacing your upset about your daughter accident into anger at the restaurant really.

Hi everyone, thank you very much for all your input. I just want to make it clear that in no way shape or form was this question ment to relate to any sort of compensation claim. I don't plan nor do I see any reason to go down the route of compensation. As it's been said and I am all too aware that it was a very unfortunate accident, that could have happened to anybody, anywhere. I do NOT plan on making a complaint to the manager as it was an 'accident' nobody's fault. Yes In my opinion I think they probably could have done more, but that's because it was my daughter that was injured and I'd have loved for them to produce a magic wand and make it disappear but they did what they could and we're able to do in an emergency situation. My question and point of this thread was about whether the first aid kit had been adaquate enough. I just assumed it would have been a full first aid kit and the trained first aider would have helped as she had been trained to do so. I have done some research into it since I posted and was a lil shocked and surprised to find there is no requirement to have a full one on the premises for customers, only members of staff. And that any first aid given is to be minimal and in fact none has to be offered, only the question of whether an ambulance shoul be called. Thank you for your well wishes to my lo, she is doing very well and recovering nicely