Each year, out of a child population of 10.5 million in England and Wales, approximately 10 000 need treatment in paediatric intensive care units (PICU).¹ Almost half of these children are transported between the referring hospital and their regional PICU by a specialist team; currently, the Department of Health recommends that parents should not routinely travel with their sick child in the ambulance.² So, should we be allowing parents to accompany their critically ill child during inter-hospital transport—or should they make their own way? In this issue, the PICU team from Guy’s Hospital report their experience of having the child’s parent accompany them during inter-hospital transport.³ An emphatic “yes” comes from the South Thames Acute Retrieval Service (STARS) that covers the south of England: they still “continue to provide the service” and hope that their “results may inform other services that are considering adopting a similar policy”.

In many respects it has been an error to have not considered, before now, the question of parents accompanying their critically ill child. Over 10 years ago the American Academy of Pediatrics stated: “it is sometimes beneficial when transporting the anxious and sick child to have a parent accompany him or her in the transport vehicle”.⁴ In our defence, we could cite certain hurdles to progress—concerns about accident insurance for passengers, shortage of space in the ambulance, and staff anxiety because of the added burden of supporting relatives during transport.⁵ The reality, however, is that the culture has evolved to exclude parents—we have streamlined the transport process and it avoids potential parental complications, by not having them there. The report by Davies and colleagues³ reminds us that, like other areas in acute paediatric care, it …