I need help. I’m utterly distraught and upset with my sons school, does anyone have any advice?

[mummytorands]

So I’ve been awake all night with keeping my 8 year old as comfortable as possible and yesterday’s events and I wanted to go to the school today and complain about how they handled things but I think I’m going to write to the chair of governors instead so I want to box clever.

So, I leave work yesterday (I work 10 minutes from the school by car) at 2:45 my children are usually let out at 3:10-3:20. School call at 2:50 telling me my son (8) has had a fall during playtime she explained he hurt his arm, elbow hip and knee. He was grazed seen by first aid but very upset and could I get him early of course I said yes I’ll be 5 minutes. Asked then as it’s unusual for him to be as upset as she was saying as he’s quite a tough cookie has he done any damage. No she said first aid moved his arm but seems ok but he’s very upset and think it’s best you came early and that she would get my daughter for me too (5). I pull up to school a TA is bringing them both out and it was quite evident to me we needed to get to hospital. I could clearly see my son was in pain, he was holding his arm, his wrist and hand were limp. I was given no accident form but didn’t think about that until later as my main concern was to get him medical attention. I called minor injuries they said they had a 3 hour wait and they wouldn’t be able to xray today so off to a&e I went which was heaving but we were dealt with pretty swiftly. Xray and he’s broken both radius and ulna and one of the fractures is going into the growth plate. I won’t know the full extent until we see the fracture clinic in 24 hours however we were sent home in a plaster cast and sling and I’ve kept him comfortable with calpol alternating nurofen. My plan is to go into school tomorrow asking for the accident book copy but I want to see it and not have it done and back dated. I will tell them he won’t be in for the next couple of days until I know more but I’m not disclosing the damage he’s done until I know for definite.

I am furious. He very clearly to me had broken his arm the moment I seen him. She played it down to me on the phone and his arm had been manipulated and it should not have been. They did not contact me fast enough and no accident from was given. Does anyone have advice? I want to complain because I’m just so unhappy about the handling and I don’t want it to happen again but I want the first aid training to be looked into also. My poor boy.

No, they have not clarified the time elapsed between the injury and being contacted. But there is potentially a gap.

So perhaps op could ascertain this before blaming the school? She was 5 mins away so if it was afternoon playtime...

This is a failure to perform adequate first aid assessment and a failure to comply with the legal requirement on accident reporting.

This time it’s a broken arm what if next time it’s a fractured skull?

They must improve their protocols and not make these mistakes again.

Who would get “frightened” over a broken arm?

The OP 🤣

Who says the accident hasn't been documented?

My son at 7 came up to me after playing on his bike with friends, and showed me an arm with ''two wrists'' all humpy and bumpy - Colles' fracture..son said he's tried to straighten it himself. I felt faint at the thought!

It was plastered in Casualty and next day had surgery on it to re-set it.

I don't think the school did anything wrong.

A long bone fracture absolutely is an emergency that requires an ambulance! Bloody hell. People shouldn't spout nonsense.

Absolutely, i agree. The elapsed time in this situation is very important.

However i do think, regardless, phoning the parent and saying they had looked at the child, assessed he was ok other than some grazes, just upset, needs to be spoken about, as that assessment was incorrect, and teh school should consider further training for their first aiders.

Their procedures are fine. Unless the school has a hotline to the air ambulance service and a handy playing field there was nothing else they could do for this child. Schools are not equipped OR QUALIFIED to diagnose the outcome of accidents, they can only make observations based on the very basic first aid training their staff get. Unless there was actual bone sticking out then the injury could have been a break, a dislocation or a sprain.

It sounds like a nasty break, and I hope he had a reasonable night and that the fracture clinic is able to reduce the break and make him more comfortable.

I worked in a huge comp who actually had a school matron (trained nurse). Most of her time was spent on pastoral and emotional support. Even with many years of training she did not have x ray eyes and would have had to send the child to hospital for expert advice. I doubt any small state school, especially primary, has a school nurse.

as an aside, having had sporty children, I’ve spent many a happy hour in a and e with potential or actual fractures and dislocations. They happen, they’re usually what they’re called, ‘accidents’.

I suppose waiting longer for an ambulance than the time it takes a parent to drive to A&E makes perfect sense.

Ambulances are not for children who are able to walk and get into a car with a simple broken arm, don't be ridiculous.

What time did it happen at? The first break time, second? If it was early in the day then id be pissed off. I think you should definitely get the accident form.

No one knows, because the school did not provide this essential information as they should have and did not make the appropriate robust attempts to contact the parents and to convey that the child needed to be checked out by A&E. These are not optional actions, they are the basic health and safety requirements. As PPs have already said, a good place to start is to check the school's policy and see whether they followed it in this instance. It may just all be a training need, but it does need to be addressed as the basics were not attended to.

I dint have any views on whether the school handled the incident right.

But if you want ti complain, follow the complaints procedure. Often, if you gonstraight to the governors, the chair then can't be involved in reviewing the complaint as they have prior knowledge. It then gets hard to form a review panel.

In relation to the accident book. It's normal practice to update them as information comes to light. It's often software not a physical book (so you get a print out) and whilst the aim is to do it quickly, so you might only note the date, time and any people involved, plus an action like parent called.

The fuller review would come later. They need info like parent transported to hospital and arm broken in order to do the book properly.

Lots of people panic and catastrophise- just look at this thread. And the OP describes herself as "utterly distraught" and "furious".

People either poorly trained or a bit dim “doing their best” isn’t good enough. They actually have to follow protocols. Including calling an ambulance if necessary and taking a child to hospital themselves.

In this instance OP should request a copy of the accident report and consider a formal complaint to admin or the governing body over the failure to produce it.

miaow! name calling someone's child. yuk.

And to be fair -not wishing to over dramatise an event for which there is currently limited information - it is also potentially a very small gap.

Yep.

Scenario A. Stressful event occurs, child is overall fine. There may have been a less than perfect initial response, (or not) but this is only ever clear with the retrospectoscope. One type of parent deals with this calmly, gets medical care as appropriate, is relaxed and soothing with the child. Child learns that painful and scary events occur but ultimately is ok.

Versus: Scenario B. stressful event occurs, child is overall fine. Their parent becomes hyper focussed on the antecedent and immediate post-event details and is stressed, doesn’t sleep, raving and distraught. Child learns that this accident was disastrous, a calamity and he wasn’t looked after well.

The child will inevitably have other accidents and injuries, why teach them to panic?

In some cases a broken bone is a medical emergency.

One thing this thread does show is the amount of ignorance concerning dangerous injuries and popping people in a car to take them to hospital.

Schools absolutely can, and do, take children to hospital when its needed. You'll have signed a consent form to allow for this.

'A simple broken arm'

Because the school fucked up not because her son has a broken bone per se. If it had been well handled by the school she wouldn’t be here.

An offchance OTT reaction from a parent is not a justification of minimising the seriousness of an injury. Totally unacceptable.

A long bone fracture going into the growth plate isn't a simple broken arm.