Point one - if you have private health insurance, the likelihood is that your children will have it too.

Point two - if you have children, especially young ones, the likelihood is that they're going to spend more time in hospital than you are.

Point three - if your young children are spending the night in hospital, that means that you or your partner are going to have to as well.

So why can't you, as a family unit, get the benefits that your private health insurance should afford? Why is it that private patient parents of sick children (who are themselves private patients) have to requisition a mattress to sleep on the floor of an often noisy room or ward? How is it conducive to proper care if the very young pateint can't sleep for all the noise and activity (let's face it, if kids are unwell, then they'll probably be making more noise than an unwell adult)? How is it conducive to proper care if the adult carer has had a poor night's sleep - and so is less capable of providing proper care in the morning? And why is "there's a vending machine down the hall" an acceptable response to an upset parent who is reluctant to leave the side of their poorly son or daughter?

Unfortunately, the Beacon's plans for a private paediatric unit have been put on hold because of planning considerations. So, right now, there aren't too many options for private patients who just happen to be children. Maybe the centralised hospital in the Mater will provide some solutions - becasue there has to be an upside to the plan...

We wait.