Accident at school

Aspiring

How did the meeting go today jpmummy?

How is your son's arm?

bonty44

I once taught two children with Cerebral Palsy; would you believe that the advice given to the school, and recommended by their parents, was that if either child fell over we must NOT help them get up.

This was an extremely difficult situation for us all to deal with. It was very difficult and disturbing indeed to watch a child fall over and then struggle for about ten minutes to get back up on their feet, but that is what we were told we LEGALLY must do.

The world has gone mad.

beefcarrot

Nothing surprises me any more in this job!

vaio

A bit OT as I was older than the OPs son, I had two accidents at school needing hospital treatment, a crushed finger and a cut head. In both cases a teacher took me to hospital, the hospital treated me and put me in an ambulance which took me to my mothers workplace.

The school rang my mother, she rang the hospital, they told her what I needed (3 stitches and splint for finger & 15 stitches for head) and that was it.

I was aged 12 & 13, it was in the early ‘70s, in both cases I was seen more or less straight away (no 6 or 12 hour wait in A&E)

Fast forward through 40 years of progress and we have this thread. What on earth is going on? What’s gone wrong with the NHS/education system?

beefcarrot

The compensation culture. Like it or not, we as teachers run the risk of being sued and so do not want to put our jobs on the line. That and child protection is much stronger.

KellyWelly

I'm not FAW qualified and I think I am right in saying that I would be open to legal proceedings if I gave a child at school their ventolin inhaler, for example, whereas if I stood and watched that child have an asthma attack I wouldn't be liable.

I agree it is absolutely crazy and I know if it came down to it I would put myself on the line if it was an absolute emergency but that is the fault of parents, not teachers. You wouldn't believe the !!!!!! I have to put up with from parents EVERY day. Teachers are the only public servants who have to put up with abusive behaviour from clients. If I was a nurse and a parent screamed at me and threatened me (like one did only on Friday) they would be denied treatment but we can't turn around and deny them their education.

beccam

KellyWelly wrote: »

I'm not FAW qualified and I think I am right in saying that I would be open to legal proceedings if I gave a child at school their ventolin inhaler, for example, whereas if I stood and watched that child have an asthma attack I wouldn't be liable.

I agree it is absolutely crazy and I know if it came down to it I would put myself on the line if it was an absolute emergency but that is the fault of parents, not teachers. You wouldn't believe the !!!!!! I have to put up with from parents EVERY day. Teachers are the only public servants who have to put up with abusive behaviour from clients. If I was a nurse and a parent screamed at me and threatened me (like one did only on Friday) they would be denied treatment but we can't turn around and deny them their education.

Not being picky but not all nurses have the same rights. I regularly get screamed at swore at and still have to treat the patients.

Off topic still but re the CPR, in theory when the team arrives it should be taken in turns....in practice they stand around discussing what to do while some poor nurse sweats buckets over the dying patient!

On topic, I would say that if the arm was suspected to be fractured and the child was in severe pain/distress then a paramedic could have been called.
The thing with fractures is that they can be serious without showing it but can also do internal lasting damage if not fixed asap, the importance of stabilizing the arm cannot be ignored and this can only be effectively done by a trained person, especially when dealing with such a young child.

On th subject of accidents at school, in our year a girl broke her back during PE class, was made to get up and walk to the changing rooms to get herself a glass of water and "sorted out", was only when she passed out the teacher called an ambulance. The girl spent 6mths in hospital and a year in a neck brace but was lucky she wasn't paralyzed or dead!

vaio

KellyWelly wrote: »

I'm not FAW qualified and I think I am right in saying that I would be open to legal proceedings if I gave a child at school their ventolin inhaler, for example, whereas if I stood and watched that child have an asthma attack I wouldn't be liable………….

I don’t even know what FAW is but I would have thought that the same law would apply to a teacher as everybody else. i.e. you can get sued if you actively do something unreasonable which causes harm.

As a teacher (loco parentis?) I’d expect this to be extended to include acts of omission i.e. you could get sued if you don’t do the reasonable thing and harm results.

In the case you mention administering the inhaler would be the reasonable thing to do.

In the original example the reasonable thing would be to call an ambulance

Aspiring

KellyWelly wrote: »

- - - - - - Teachers are the only public servants who have to put up with abusive behaviour from clients.

:rotfl:You keep believing that

seven-day-weekend

KellyWelly wrote: »

Teachers are the only public servants who have to put up with abusive behaviour from clients. .

No, sorry, this is quite wrong.

I'm not in any way anti-teacher (my husband was one for over twenty years) and I know that teachers DO get subjected to terrible abusive behaviour from both parents and pupils.

But they are NOT the only public sector employees who are subjected to this.

Doctors, nurses, police, even firefighters have all reported abuse from the public. Not to mention Council workers. Have you ever worked in Housing Benefits? Well I have, the abuse is such that one young Housing Officer I worked with had a breakdown and was unable to to return to her job through fear of one particular 'client' and his abusive and threatening behaviour.

I have had abusive behaviour towards me when I was a lollipop lady AND when I was a dinner lady and also when I worked in Town Planning. (although not as much here as in other jobs I'm glad to say).

Many people seem to think that all Public Sector employees are lazy, uneducated (or over-educated) 'Jobsworths' and therefore fair game for their disgusting behaviour.

So, rant over, but just need to put the record straight. ALL Public Sector workers are subject to abusive behaviour from the public, not just teachers.