Accident at school

jpmummy

I seem to have started a bun fight! I use these forums as a way of seeing other peoples views and life experiences. I am not an ambulance chaser nor am I interested in falling out with my school or putting the other pupils or teachers at risk. In my opinion I feel that a paramedic COULD have been called, I wasn't thinking of a 999 flashing light scene. I just thought that it was obvious EVEN to the untrained eye that my Son HAD broken his arm. I think that the school COULD have said that to me over the phone and then maybe I could have suggested another route of getting him to A & E quicker ( such as calling my Dad who lives a stones throw away or my Mum who was in the village at the time) and meeting him there (a much quicker route all round). I know that it is not life threatening but I just wanted some support for my meeting with the school next week.

bellrooster

Hi! I hope your little boy is feeling better

I understand that schools have certain policies to adhere to, but if it were my daughter I would've wanted a Dr or paramedic to look at her straight away, if only to administer suitable pain relief.

Poor little man, I'm sure he's well on the rode to recovery now.

jpmummy

scotty1971 wrote: »

i think a more important thing would be,would be to find out exactly how your child managed to hurt himself so badly,to make sure he was getting looked after properly.

he fell off a newly installed wooden climbing frame thingy onto bark. Its only about a foot off the ground, he did it at break time.

melorablack

How was it obvious he had broken his arm?

Was it bleeding because there was bone sticking out?

Was it bent the wrong way round?

I broke my arm in school when I was seven (I fell over running in the playground). It was a severe break and I needed an operation to set it, but it wasn't obvious from looking at it. They called my dad and he drove me to hospital. I don't think the school are allowed to do anything more (for a long time, I don't even think my schools have been allowed to give out paracetamol to teenage girls with period pains, never mind little kids of 5)

peachyprice

jpmummy wrote: »

I seem to have started a bun fight! I use these forums as a way of seeing other peoples views and life experiences. I am not an ambulance chaser nor am I interested in falling out with my school or putting the other pupils or teachers at risk. In my opinion I feel that a paramedic COULD have been called, I wasn't thinking of a 999 flashing light scene. I just thought that it was obvious EVEN to the untrained eye that my Son HAD broken his arm. I think that the school COULD have said that to me over the phone and then maybe I could have suggested another route of getting him to A & E quicker ( such as calling my Dad who lives a stones throw away or my Mum who was in the village at the time) and meeting him there (a much quicker route all round). I know that it is not life threatening but I just wanted some support for my meeting with the school next week.

If the school had phoned 999 and said they had a child with a broken arm they would be fairly low priority and would more than likely been told to take the child to A&E. If they did feel it waranted a paramedic response it would have been pretty low priority (after car crashes, heart attacks etc) and there's no guarantee they would have got there any quicker than you.

YOU could have phoned you mum or dad and asked them to pick him up instead.

I'm sorry that the majority of people think the school did nothing wrong, it's clear this is not the response you wanted or expected, but I think you'll find when you have your meeting with the school next week they will be of the same opinion.

What actions are you expecting the school to take when you tell them you think they acted poorly?

andyrules

jpmummy wrote: »

I seem to have started a bun fight! I use these forums as a way of seeing other peoples views and life experiences. I am not an ambulance chaser nor am I interested in falling out with my school or putting the other pupils or teachers at risk. In my opinion I feel that a paramedic COULD have been called, I wasn't thinking of a 999 flashing light scene. I just thought that it was obvious EVEN to the untrained eye that my Son HAD broken his arm. I think that the school COULD have said that to me over the phone and then maybe I could have suggested another route of getting him to A & E quicker ( such as calling my Dad who lives a stones throw away or my Mum who was in the village at the time) and meeting him there (a much quicker route all round). I know that it is not life threatening but I just wanted some support for my meeting with the school next week.

If I had been that member of staff who called you, I would have asked you to come as a precaution, but I would not raise panic and alarm, especially knowing you have a journey.

A poster said earlier that even in a GP surgery they would not make a diagnosis so I think it's unfair to expect untrained staff to do so! If your parents were nearby, you could have asked them to call and at least sit with him till you arrived.

What are hoping to achieve next week? Are you looking for an explanation of how the injury was caused or to discuss why you believe they could have taken different action? Accidents, do, unfortunately, occur in playgrounds, even with supervision. A boy I know once ran into a brick wall, no-one knows why, even him! The only evasive actions possible were - remove the wall (or school;)), or stop children running anywhere at all. It sounds like the school has acted correctly on this occasion. Please keep an open mind next week and remember you have a longterm relationship with the school.

sneezyboots

Well this is for the benfit of the OP as there seems to be a lot of arguing going on here (I'm a teacher by the way).

About 6 months ago during break time a girl fell over and when myself and another teacher walked over to her it was evident her forearm was broken as it was slightly bent. Noone hesitated in calling an ambulance and telling them a school has a child with a broken arm. The head came and sat with her on the playground floor (noone moved her so nothing would get worse) as well as her teacher. The children from the teachers class got split between the other two parallel classes for the rest of the day (45mins or so). The child's mother then came to the school to sit with her too. About 30mins after calling it the ambulance arrived and took girl and mother to a&e. So schools do call ambulances for broken arms and noone even looked as if to say why are we calling an ambulance. The situation was handled perfectly. Noone sat their getting the school's policies out, people just did what they thought was right for the girl.

jpmummy

jpmummy wrote: »

Hi

My question is I am off to see the school on Monday and want to know am I right in thinking that they should have called for medical assistance? I think they should have owing to the distress he was in, it was clearly not a knock on his arm. Does anyone have any experience of this and if so did your schools call for help or just call you to collect them.

Thanks

Peachy

Where in my op did I say that the school had done wrong. Have I said that haven't had the responses I wanted/expected. Yes I could have called my parents however, the school where very vague and said that he MAY need medical attention. The actual question ended with "does anyone have any experience of this and if so DID your schools call for help or just call you to collect them.) They have asked ME to go in on Monday to discuss the matter not the other way round! and obviously I am keen for him to keep up with his class whilst he is off. Did I say the school acted poorly I just asked for other peoples Experiences.

peachyprice

jpmummy wrote: »

Hi

am I right in thinking that they should have called for medical assistance? I think they should have owing to the distress he was in, it was clearly not a knock on his arm.

Read your very first post again
It's very clear that you thought they should have done more!

If you thought everything was handled as you imagined it should have been you wouldn't be here seeking opinions.

melorablack

I do have experience (I was the child with the broken arm) and my dad came to get me. My brother also broke his arm at the same age and his looked worse than mine had (immediate bruising and an obvious lump in his arm) but he didn't need an operation as it was a "green stick fracture" and common in young kids, mine was a severe fracture but didn't look it to the naked eye because you couldn't see anything wrong with my arm at the time.

I do think it is all down to how one person sees a situation and other might see it differently, just because you may have called a paramedic doesn't mean everyone would, but it doesn't mean they handled the situation badly either.