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.

Well I know you're emotionally charged right now, but I think you're being a bit unreasonable.

My daughter had exactly the same injury when she was 5, 18 months ago. She did it at home. I was utterly convinced it was bruised. She was in pain and unhappy, but it was 8pm and I saw no reason to rush headlong when it seemed to be soft tissue damage. The next morning, after keeping her comfortable all night and her sleeping quite well, we headed to hospital as she was in more obvious pain (the thing with breaks, especially in soft bones of children, is the pain increases over time). She'd broken both bones the same as your son.

I am first aid trained and have worked with children for 20 years, and I know that they can present very resilient around people they don't know well and the pain will become more obvious when they're with their parent. It is likely he wasn't showing the level of pain until he saw you.

The great news is that this is a common injury in children and, if they're on the younger side of childhood, surgery isn't usually needed as the bones will fuse. If they're older they sometimes need surgery. We had the cast and then a proper full cast for 4 weeks. A bit of physio for a few weeks. She still gets a bit of weakness occasionally but it gets better all the time.

Children do these things. The school called you to collect. There wasn't really a lot else they could do in this situation. I don't think it would have been as obvious as you think that it was worse than bruising/ soft tissue. No one knows our children like we do, so often things that are obvious to us aren't to other people.

Our last playtime finishes about 45 minutes before the end of the school day. So that wouldn't be a massive time delay for us - allow time to bring child to FA, time to assess, time to call a parent then you're bearing the end of the day quickly

My daughter broke her wrist on the playground. I don't think it is uncommon. It was not the school's fault, she fell on a level surface.

I can't see what else your son's school could have done except call you early as you would have had to transport him to A&E anyway. Minor injuries no longer X-ray round here either.

I think your son is the best person to fill you in on the details of the accident. You can ask to see the accident form (you should be given a copy) but I don't know why you are angry.

A paramedic manipulated my DD15 broken arm when he believed it to be a sprain. Should I have sued?

Really, you need to calm down. Schools are educators, not loco parentis, and they did their best. Focus your energies on supporting your son.

The properties of a fracture can only be ascertained by X-ray. A long bone fracture can damage other tissues - blood vessels, nerves, muscles. Some bone fractures can result in organ damage.

That post did not say this case should above been taken by ambulance, she said the thread shows up ignorance around serious injury and stuffing people in the car.

1)how would the kid have got off the ground without moving it? 2)How do you know it was manipulated- you weren't there? Itmay just have been suppprted

"Advise the casualty to keep still while you support the injured part to stop it from moving. Do this by holding the joint above and below the injured area."

3)the accident book is probably online.

4. what was obvious when you arrived might not have been when the first aider assessed it.

I understand you are upset and casting around for someone to blame, but really you need to grow up a bit

You won’t see nerves, blood vessels on a plain X-ray though?

Me too so shocked at the replies poor boy 😔 OP has the right to complain

1st reply nails it.

School did nothing wrong.

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.

Well then 999 call handlers display the same ignorance as that's what they also tend to advise.

I'm not sure what you need to complain about. They don't want to panic you, making you rush and have an accident. When you say they manipulated the arm; in clinical terms that means they tried to pull it a displaced fracture back into position, is that what you mean?

I'd love to know which schools can afford to pay for a dedicated nurse these days! They're lucky to have classes staffed by teachers, let alone support staff.

If I knew how to find the "100%" emoji I would use it here! You’re absolutely right, especially about pain from fractures increasing over time and about parents knowing their child best and even then sometimes getting it wrong.

This.

that said it can be hard to see (as someone who son had a fracture for 3 days and flew back) to check and sometimes the most innocuous of falls can do something like that such as simply tripping over his feet if he landed on it.

what you do need to do is speak to someone about making sure his return is organised properly with a break

No there are other ways of judging that, but you can see how far the bone displaced. All of which is beside the point # the point is the poster claimed it was just “radius and ulna” - but the severity of the fracture and risk of complications would not be known prior to medical investigation.

Maybe direct it at the previous and current Governments who have underfunded the NHS to such an extent that you couldn’t attend Minor Injuries and had to sit in AnE which was heaving.

The school behaved appropriately.
My child had a break in Yr 8 caused by another pupil, they rang me because she was ‘looking a bit pale and complaining of a sore hand’. It was broken quite badly in two places. The school did an accident form afterwards when it was clear there’d been a break, and spoke to both pupils about the incident. No drama.

Blimey, the second guessing on this thread is something else.

How on earth do you know they didn't make "appropriate robust attempts" to contact the parents? Did the phone call they made asking mum to collect child not suffice? Pray, what else should they have done? Sent out an SWAT team to track her down, bundle her into the back of a blacked out SUV and speed her to school at 100mph?

I'd seriously love to know what an appropriate robust attempt is.

I agree with this, it is not always apparent at a first glance what the extent of damage from an accident is, and most children will cry and be upset and hold an injured area. Also worth bearing in mind the body’s adrenaline response often masks pain for the initial period after an accident, so it may not have appeared like a serious injury at first. Bumps and scrapes at school are v common.

You are clearly a good mum who loves your son. When a child is badly hurt it can trigger our mama tiger instincts, powerful emotions to protect our DC and flame the cause of the hurt. It’s like primal rage! I’ve had this and there was nothing/ no one to blame. But the emotions come anyway. It is traumatic for you and your son but I think anger at the school is misplaced. They contacted you to let you know what happened and gave him into your care asap. They should have issued an accident form but this is a small oversight as they told you verbally what happened.

Don’t fire off any angry communications yet! Step back. Breathe. Look after your son and let your emotions settle OP. He will be ok, you are a good mum 🧡

I broke my wrist as a youngster on a school trip and they didn't realise it was broken. Similar vibe - they called and said my parents should take me to hospital but they were clearly unsure. They took ages filling out the emergency form and I wish they'd just called my mum and got her to take me to hospital straightaway but it's left me with no lasting damage or memories, I don't think this is a big deal.

Yes! A relation in her 80s recently fell at home getting out of the shower and injured her arm and wrist. It was clearly badly broken as her hand was at a very odd angle. She lives alone. She was very shocked but managed to phone 999 and told them all this but was told to get dressed and call a cab to take her to hospital.

They did call you straight away to get him so I'm not sure what else they could have done. Breaks can be hard to spot. My son fractured his wrist by 'saving' a goal' kicked by DH! DH didn't think it was broken, he wasn't crying but a few hours later I wasn't happy with how he was with it so I took him to minor injuries and it was indeed broken (but not badly), he still had a cast for 3 weeks and DH was a bit sussed out when I sent him a pic from the hospital with his temporary cast on. I wasn't angry with DH though, neither of us spotted it at first.
Whereas both DCs have had horrible soft tissue injuries which immediately swelled and bruised. You just never know.

But it would, to be fair. You can absolutely tell from initial assessment if the limb is compromised from a neurovascular perspective or if there is a massive haematoma from bleeding. A plain X-ray would contribute little to this assessment, you just see (mainly) bones clearly.

I disagree with the majority of posters. For those saying the accident book won't tell the OP if her child had a broken arm, no, it likely won't; but what it will tell the OP is if they followed procedure and bothered to write out an accident report. It's implied the OP thinks they didn't, as they didn't bother handing her an accident slip for a severe injury, when they normally hand them out willy nilly.

I also disagree that the school acted appropriately. There are far too many trusting posters out there who believe schools are filled with kind, competent adults who actually care about their children. A trained first aider would be able to tell the different between a "graze" and an arm broken in multiple places. Presumably he fell during lunch time. Why was his mum only called shortly before the end of the day?

At the very least, I would expect the Governors to review the school's first aid and accident policies and training to determine whether they are sufficient.

I don’t think making her child feel like he was unsafe, not well cared for and acting like this is a calamity is a sign of good parenting.

They should have contacted you immediately and we would have done just that at the school I work at. To add - the first aider should never down play an injury. They should tell the parent or guardian exactly what happened and allow them to make the next decision. There have been recent cases of a head injury bring down-played at preschool and the child dying in the night.

Some injuries require a hospital visit. Off the top of my head - ingested water. There is always a risk of secondary drowning so a hospital visit is essential. Obviously in this case the exact nature of the injury should have been explained to the OP, backed up by times/location etc. I couldn’t comment on whether the arm should have been moved. It is pretty standard for first aiders to ask if fingers can be wiggled and to ask if an elbow can be bent, an arm raised. You certainly wouldn’t grab the arm and if the child was in pain you would usually support the arm with a sling and go from there.

As a parent I would want to know

1. what was he doing that caused the broken arm and any risk assessments attached to that?
2. was he seen by anyone with paediatric first aid training?