40 years ago parents didn't stay with unwell babies?

[UndertheCedartree]

Am I right in thinking that 40 years ago if a baby was taken to the big city hospital (from being born at the local town hospital i.e critically ill/likely to die) that the parents and definitely the dad did not go with them?

Yes. Nurses were these kind, glamorous, big sister figures. I suspect their workloads allowed more time for looking after children, with parents not expected to be there.

I have realized too looking back on it that my perception of hospital was shaped mostly by Nancy the Little Nurse from my Twinkle comics, so no wonder I enjoyed it!

40 years ago I think they did more often than previous decades. 50s and 60s and before that it was much rarer for parents to stay. Really quite sad when you consider how illnesses like diphtheria, TB, rheumatic fever and Polio affected so many children in the post war era. Some children were able to find places convalescent homes at the seaside or in the countryside but the time away from seeing much of parents (outside of visiting hours) was long.