Action for Sick Children Scotland evolves into Children’s Health Scotland

Gwen explains the motivations behind the Children's Health Scotland's recent name change.

After more than 50 years of campaigning for the healthcare rights of children and young people, and their families, Action for Sick Children Scotland is changing its name to Children’s Health Scotland in order to better reflect its current focus and range of activities.

The charity has its roots in the 1950s. This was when Scot, James Robertson, made the landmark film ‘A Two Year Old goes to Hospital’ (1952). It showed how Laura, who had gone into hospital for an operation, reacted to being separated from her parents. As was the common practice of the day, they were not allowed to stay with her. The film demonstrates the impact of maternal deprivation on children when they are separated from their primary carers. Laura repeatedly says; ‘I want my Mummy, I want my Mummy!’ Robertson, who worked at the Tavistock Clinic with John Bowlby, also made ‘Going to Hospital with Mother’ (1958).

Robertson’s films proved to have a profound effect on how we treat children in healthcare settings. They informed the work of the government committee, chaired by Sir Harry Platt, which produced The Welfare of Children in Hospital Report. It was adopted as policy in 1959. However, it took the screening of Robertson’s films on national television in 1961, and the subsequent establishment of the charity Mother Care for Children in Hospital (MCCH), which pressed for the recommendations of the report to be implemented, for changes in practice to be adopted. MCCH spread UK wide and in 1965 became the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital (NAWCH). By adopting the campaign name Action for Sick Children in 1991, it emphasised that the work is not just limited to hospital settings.

From these foundations, Action for Sick Children Scotland has campaigned for children and young people to receive the highest standard and quality of care when they are ill in hospital, at home or in the community, and also for their greater involvement along with their families, in decisions about health services.

Robertson would be amazed if he were alive today to see the progress that has been made. Although how children are cared for is now light years from the situation in Robertson’s day, there are always improvements that can be made. Our organisation has addressed many issues such as the care of premature babies, facilities for adolescents, accommodation for parents and facilities for children, children in orthopaedic wards, parents in the anaesthetic room, children and pain, dental surgical services for children in Scotland, oral health provision for children with additional support needs (our Special Smiles project), access to education for children and young people absent from school due to illness, and for the mental health of children and young people to be given the same priority as their physical health.

Our current projects include: Lothian Self-Management project for children and young people with long term conditions, Children and Young People In and Leaving Care – supporting foster and kinship carers to look after the healthcare needs of those in their care, Greater Glasgow & Clyde Child Health, Tayside Child Health and Hard to Reach Families.

With the launch of the new name Children’s Health Scotland, the charity looks forward to continuing its work to support every child and young person to have their healthcare rights upheld and their healthcare needs met.

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