A MOTHER was called to a school to treat a cut on her daughter's finger after the authorities told her they were forbidden to give her a plaster

A MOTHER was called to a school to treat a cut on her daughter's finger after the authorities told her they were forbidden to give her a plaster. Julie Scott, of Southville Road, Weston, received the call from Uphill Primary School saying her nine-year-old daughter Emily was bleeding from a small cut.The 38-year-old mother-of-two was asked to go the school in Old Church Road to put a sticking plaster around the minor injury.School officials told her that guidelines given to them by North Somerset Council meant they were unable to do it themselves.Julie received the call at 1.30pm, and went to the aid of her daughter.After she nursed her youngest child, Julie left a box of plasters in the drawer of her desk in case of further mishaps.Emily's father, Kevan, aged 39, said: "I am not criticising the school, which is brilliant. I believe it is just following guidelines from above."Members of the parents, Teachers and Friends Association were saying just the other day how absurd it was."Emily just had a little cut where the nail meets the skin. Would she have been taken to hospital if nobody had been at home when the school called? "Where do we draw the line? Do we now ban stairs because children could fall down them? It is ludicrous and totally lacking in common sense. "This is another example of the nanny state and the kind of rule that was probably drawn up by a committee because no sensible individual could have come up with it on their own. Councils are probably worried they may be sued."Headteacher David Edwards said: "We are following strict guidelines laid down by North Somerset Council and our own policies which state we cannot administer plasters. We are only allowed to treat something with water and paper towels. We try to take a common-sense approach."A North Somerset Council spokesman said: "We provide broad guidelines for first aid in schools and there is no mention of using plasters. Each child joining a school has to produce a medical declaration which includes allergies and therefore it is down to the school to use its judgement about whether it is appropriate to use plasters or not."This case highlights that we perhaps need to re-issue guidelines to schools and clarify the issue.