Girl, 5, who broke leg at Coventry school refused ambulance

[dutchman]

The family of a five-year-old girl who broke her leg on her first day at a Coventry primary school were told to take her to hospital themselves by ambulance staff.



Elyse Poole was just three hours into her first day at Howes Primary School when she fell over in the playground.

School staff rushed to help her and Elyse was taken inside where she said she had heard a loud crack when she fell.

They rang West Midlands Ambulance Service who asked a series of questions before saying that an ambulance “wasn’t warranted” in the situation.

Now Elyse’s shocked family want to know why they were forced to drive their daughter to University Hospital themselves.

Mum Michelle Poole, 29, of Sunnybank Avenue, Toll Bar End, said: “When I got to the school I thought I could hear her screaming.

“But I couldn’t believe it was Elyse.

“They couldn’t even get her sock off she was in so much pain.

“She was so upset. The people looking after her said she was screaming at the head teacher to get me.

“That’s not like her at all. It shows how much pain she was in.”

When ambulance staff spoke to the school’s receptionist they asked a series of questions about Elyse’s injury.

But at the end of the five minute phone call they were told that an ambulance “wasn’t warranted in the situation” and Elyse would have to be taken to hospital by her parents.

Michelle, a health care worker at University Hospital, said: “I was disgusted. It’s an absolute joke.

“What exactly does it take to warrant an ambulance?

What West Midlands Ambulance Service said:

A WMAS spokesman said: “Having listened back to the recordings of the calls and been party to the results of the investigation, the trust can confirm that the call was dealt with correctly based on the information provided by the caller.

‘‘There was no indication that the nature of the injury sustained by the child was in any way serious eg:

*At no point did the caller alert the ambulance service that the child had heard a ‘crack’ when she fell.

*The call handler was told that there was no swelling and no deformity to the leg.

*The initial assessment showed that the child needed to go to have the injury assessed at a hospital but it was not serious enough to be classed as an ‘emergency’.

“However, given the age of the patient, the call handler said that an experienced paramedic would call back.

“This happened within two minutes. When the paramedic called back, he was told that the child’s mother had already taken the child to hospital herself.

“The Trust will always prioritise calls – we are primarily here to deal with life threatening incidents and illnesses such as choking, stroke, chest pain, serious blood loss or an unconscious patient.

“By doing so we will be able to provide a better service to those for whom every second counts.’’