"I want my mummy". Changes in the care of children in hospital.

The Welfare of Sick Children in Hospital' was the formal title of a report published in Britain in 1959 which came to be known as the Platt Report, after Sir Harry Platt, the chairman of the parliamentary committee which investigated the care of children in hospital. The committee found the hospitals were miserable places for children, where they were expected to conform to ward routines, not allowed to play; where to lie quietly was the accepted norm, and where, under no circumstances, were the parents allowed to visit outside the declared visiting hours. Subsequent to the publication of the Platt Report a revolution occurred in children's hospitals in Britain and other western countries, including Australia. This paper explores these changes, and discusses implications for paediatric care in hospitals and paediatric nursing education today.