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.

Calling an ambulance would be outrageous for a broken arm!! Jesus Christ!

Writing mainly as an ex- teacher + work place first aid trained

With accidents, fortunately rare, the accident book was often filled in later - after dealing with the injured child. Accurately but later. It won't have detail of the actual injury - as they don't have x-ray equipment, medical knowledge etc.

They may need to ask others who were around as to what happened, what may have caused the accident, was it preventable etc.

From your description they did everything properly.

They may have downplayed matters when on the phone to you - not wanting to cause panic, rushed driving etc. His injuries may not have caused as much concern when they started the call.

Sometimes the pain from injuries develops as the adrenalin wears off/bruising develops. What seems initially just a graze type injury 'develops'.

This happened to me with a pupil. He'd fallen running for a bus. We spoke to him, looked at him. His only injury - from what we could see and what he said - was a grazed palm. It seemed best to get him on the bus and home soon - he wanted to. it looked a superficial injury - not really worthy of tan accident book entry.
As he sat down his knee started to bleed (no cut on trousers and no mention when we asked him) and as his adrenalin levels lessened his phobia of blood kicked in. (Secondary school - I and assisting colleague didn't teach him) 5 minutes into his journey he had screaming abdabs, bus took him to hospital etc etc. Head fully supportive of me and colleague.

Breaks are not always obvious - I fell and hurt my wrist last summer. Over the next week, I went rowing, did diy, moved stuff around, lived a normal life etc. On realising that it wasn't getting better took myself to A+E came home with a plaster.

When I started teaching in the early 80s workplace first aid covered a wide range of situations - childbirth, setting bones, bladed injuries, diagnosing strokes, poisonings. A couple of hours a week for a month. Each time I renewed my qualification something left the list. The last one I did was little more than CPR, ABC and how to call an ambulance.

Unless it's a matter of life and death/keeping the child alive they won't do anything until a parent gets there.

I've not been there/done that but colleagues have.

Where are you getting this ‘hour or more’ before the OP was called? Many schools have afternoon play. Presumably her DS has told her when it happened and if there was a long delay in contacting her that would have formed part of the post.

His arm being moved and his arm being manipulated are two very different things.....

Oh Come on it’s a school not a hospital. Nobody can know for definite if it’s a fracture without an X-ray. I’m sure if the school ‘suspected’ a fracture they would have said so. They didn’t. It’s not the school’s fault.

So, literally what i said? That the person assessing needs better training in order to appropriately escalate? I didnt once even imply they should have been able to diagnose, but pain, swelling, holding the fracture site with the other hand to support it, deformity, limpness, reduced movement, heat, fast bruising, guarding, all all signs. Even a couple of those combined (as stated in the OP) should have been recognised by a trained first aider, and ample to immediately escalate to get medical attention. If the person assessing doesnt know these signs, they require further training.

What a pointless, catty comment. And contradictory; YOU didn't wait for information before stomping in on me, eh 🤦‍♀️😂

You wasn’t there so you don’t know what happened. We only have op’s side of the story. All I can say as a mum who was once contacted by my DC school and told I need to take my child to hospital, if the school thinks a child needs to go to A&E they will say so. You can only suspect a fracture but you don’t know for definite. The school deemed the child to be ok. He obviously wasn’t ok so op took him to A&E. Again, schools are not qualified in that area, they are qualified to teach. I could understand your point if we were talking about hospital staff missing the signs…. but a school? Where staff probably have only basic knowledge in first aid? 🤔

So what if it had happened first lesson in PE and they thought he was fine just dramatic and then waited till home time and sent him home as normal with both bones in his forearm broken? That would be OK as they are teachers not HCP's? Dont be so ridiculous. They have a duty of care over the children in their care, having first aid trained staff is mandatory, and they should be able to recognise a potential common injury in children of this age group and escalate appropriately.

I think fewer schools nowadays have an afternoon play - particularly for KS2 and the OP said her ds was 8. So, it could have been lunchtime break?

But we may never know, as the OP hasn't returned to the thread.

Kids break their ulnas all the time. I work in theatre recovery and we have on average 4-6 children a week with these fractures requiring surgery- and that's just the children requiring surgical treatment. The school shouldn't have downplayed his level of pain but until we know how long they left it before calling the OP we won't know if they could have done more. It would be normal practice to give it a bit of time to see if a child settles after an injury and injuries aren't always obvious at first glance. First aid courses that school staff get are for basic life support, choking and stemming blood flow from serious wounds etc.

DS broke both radius and ulna ( looked like two wrists) but he says it didn’t hurt much -said it ached.
It did need surgery to fix it ( age 7 or 8 can’t remember exactly- he fell over the bars on a bike - Kids I have known definitely haven’t cried- keener to get back on their bike or pony-
One girl insisted on coming back to the horse show, but her parents forbade her to ride

That DID make her cry.

Yes parents definitely don’t get a copy (unless they specifically ask for one in which case we have to screenshot and print it off which is a bit of a faff).

You are being ridiculous! Yes they have a duty of care but they aren’t fucking doctors. Trained first aid or whatever isn’t going to determine a fracture despite what ‘signs’ you feel they may have ‘missed’. They did the right thing in contacting the op - that’s all they can do! The only way to tell if something is fractured is via an X-ray, no fucking first aid is going to confirm otherwise! Again, I could see your point if the school didn’t contact op or the accident happened in a hospital. Even a GP cannot advise whether someone has a fracture, they don’t even bother looking for the ‘signs’ they always tell a patient to go to A&E to get checked over if they had such an accident.

Your reading comprehension is awful. I very clearly, multiple times, said suspect a fracture. They didnt suspect, they called because the child was upset, an unspecified amount of time after the event. In that case, the person needs better first aid training, as the first thing they should suspect in this instance was a fracture, as the child was a. in pain, b. holding the injured arm, c. limp. Those 3 symptoms are enough that the first aider could not rule out a fracture, clearly an xray is required to confirm the diagnosis, therefore it is suspected, meaning it should have been escalated immediately to a parent to seek medical care, or someone medically trained.

Yes I know what you said. I’ve worked in the NHS but in a non clinical role so the teachers will have had about as much first aid training as I have! That doesn’t make you a doctor and it is not their place nor qualification to ‘suspect’ fractures, anymore than it would have been my place to ‘suspect’ a fracture based on the training I’ve had! You cannot expect school staff to be qualified in knowing how to ‘suspect’ a fracture based on teaching qualifications and first aid training alone, sorry. I’m sure if they felt the child needed to go to A&E then they would have said so. They took the necessary action in contacting the parent - that comes under their duty of care. They have done their bit.

therefore, as i said, maybe, first aiders require more training. Maybe? To avoid injured children being left in pain for any longer than necessary?

That training doesn't exist. Unless you can recommend a course?

I didn’t ask for a post to be deleted

It does via St John ambulance. I had training on identifying suspected fractures and the different slings as a child with them in badgers and cadets and further training as an adult member, and they most definitely offer similar training for professionals if approached. Which is why i suggested the OP approach the school calmly and explain why further training would be useful for staff.

Those sort of people exist in places such as hospitals… you know…. where you can go if you’ve had an accident and injured yourself. You’re not surely expecting teaching staff to now take on the responsibility of being clinical practitioners now are you?

clearly not, i never even suggested it, infact as a HCP myself id be without a job if teachers could asses, diagnoses, and treat every illnes injury and event that happened to children in a school setting! However, do you seriously think its ok that not one member of staff who had contact with the child suspected a fracture enough for it to be immediately escalated, not just a case of him being overly upset and that being the reason to contact the parent?

I would say so. They are teachers, not HCPs.

First aid has changed a huge amount in the last few years. What you were taught then is not what is considered correct practise these days