Comments on "Changing attitudes towards the care of children in hospital: a new assessment of the influence of the work of Bowlby and Robertson in the UK, 1940-1970" by Frank C.P. van der Horst and Rene van der Veer (Attachment & Human Development Vol 11, No 2, March 2009, 119-142).

The importance of James Robertson's work in changing the hospital conditions for young children is widely acknowledged but disputed by van der Horst and van der Veer (2009), although they presented evidence supporting his influence, they also presented considerable evidence showing that others were ignored, including writers in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal. van der Horst and van der Veer presented a muddled picture by failing to understand how the work of James Robertson influenced a wide range of people, opened up the debate and, through the Platt Report, gave parents the authority and confidence to challenge hospitals and stay with their young children. James Robertson's 1952 film "a Two-year-old Goes to Hospital" provided the 'visual communication to pierce defences as the spoken word cannot do'. This film continues to be widely used today in teaching about young children.