Action for Sick Children

This collection includes: minutes and papers; annual accounts; correspondence and subject files; serial and other publications; branch files.

Action for Sick Children is a registered charity, founded over fifty years ago at a time when parents were actively discouraged from staying with their child and visiting hours were very restricted. Researcher and film-maker James Robertson had already demonstrated with his documentaries 'A two year old goes to hospital' (1953) and 'Going to hospital with Mother' (1953) that the most distressing part of hospitalisation for a child was not the pain of illness, but the separation from mother. In the light of the television broadcast of these films, and the recommendation from the government report 'The Welfare of Children in Hospital' (Platt Report) that visiting all children should be unrestricted, a group initially called Mother Care for Children in Hospital was formed in 1961.

Mother Care for Children in Hospital sought to persuade hospitals that the Platt Report recommendations could work. Meetings held across the country led to the formation of local branches, which still exist today. The then Ministry of Health and many professionals were sympathetic to the cause and the movement grew. MCCH became known as the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital – NAWCH - growing into a national multi-disciplinary organisation of parents and health professionals campaigning for family centred care. NAWCH changed its name to Action for Sick Children in 1991 to reflect the increasing amount of healthcare taking place in the community rather than hospital.

Reference: Action for Sick Children website.

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/SKC