The Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW) is one of Australia's premier paediatric hospitals and a world-class centre for children's health. Located in western Sydney and serving one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, CHW provides specialised care across virtually every area of children's medicine; from routine outpatient care through to complex surgery, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.

The facilities are genuinely outstanding. The hospital's Kids Rehab Centre is a state-of-the-art paediatric rehabilitation service; one of the best in the Southern Hemisphere; offering specialist multidisciplinary care for children with complex medical needs, disability, and chronic conditions. Spending time on-site, it is immediately clear that the people who work there care deeply; not just about clinical outcomes, but about the quality of life of every child who walks through those doors.

The visit came about through a partnership between Night n Day Group and Dr. Ani, a specialist surgeon and Spung Group partner, working in the continence space at Westmead. Dr. Ani brings a depth of clinical knowledge and a genuine passion for improving outcomes for children with complex continence needs; and crucially, an understanding that the best clinical care in the world can only go so far if families don't have the right products and support when they get home.

Michael Lakiss-Smith with Dr Ani and a nurse team member at The Children's Hospital at Westmead

That shared belief; that the gap between clinical care and community support needs to close; is exactly what this partnership is built on. For Night n Day Group, a business that has spent 37 years working at the intersection of clinical need and community support, the ability to connect that knowledge with the clinical world through someone like Dr. Ani is enormously exciting.

During the visit, Michael also spent time with continence nurses, ward teams, and specialists across the hospital. The conversations were frank, warm, and at times genuinely moving. And one message came through, overwhelmingly and consistently, from every team member we spoke to.

Again and again, across wards and conversations, the same theme emerged. Families are being discharged with disposable products; sometimes the same products available at major supermarkets; without any awareness that washable, reusable continence solutions exist. Without any knowledge that custom-made products can be made for bodies that standard sizing cannot accommodate. Without being told that Night n Day Group has been providing exactly these solutions for nearly four decades - across disposable and reusable continence products, skin care, and specialist custom-made solutions.

It is not a criticism of anyone in that building; every person we met is deeply committed to the children in their care. It is a system gap. The clinical world and the community product world have not been talking to each other, and the people who lose out are the children and families caught in between.

Another conversation that stayed with us involved children living with a stoma; where part of the bowel or urinary tract has been redirected through an opening in the abdomen. Standard continence products are not designed with ostomy users in mind. Waistbands sit in the wrong place, standard sizing doesn't account for the appliance, and off-the-shelf options simply don't fit these children's bodies.

Perhaps the most sobering moment of the day came during a conversation with one of the continence nurses, who shared what they see every week. Children who don't go to school. Children who won't go outdoors. Children who turn down birthday parties, swimming lessons, sports days; any situation where incontinence might become visible, awkward, or embarrassing.

"Some of these children don't go to school. They are terrified of having an accident. We had no idea products like this even existed for kids with these kinds of needs. Something made specifically for their body, their measurements, their medical situation - that is a wonderful thing. These families have been managing with whatever they could find, and this whole time there has been a better option. That is what we need to be telling people."

Dr Goya Raman, The Children's Hospital at Westmead

Sitting across the table hearing that, Michael felt the full weight of what Night n Day has always stood for; and the urgency of making sure more families know it exists. Because that fear of an accident, of being seen, of being different; that is exactly what the right product can take away.

What we heard at Westmead is personal; but the issue is enormous. 1 in 5 children at age 5 experience bedwetting, and an estimated 500,000 Australians under 18 are affected by some form of incontinence. Many are managing in silence; accepting whatever products are available without knowing that better, more tailored options exist.

The custom-made conversation was one that stopped several clinicians in the room. The idea that a washable continence product could be made to a child's exact measurements; designed around their medical needs, their body shape, their absorbency requirement; was new information for many of the specialists we met. For clinicians looking to offer patients more than a standard off-the-shelf option, this is a significant addition to the referral toolkit.

Night n Day Group was founded in 1989 because the community needed a better answer. Thirty-seven years later, this partnership with Westmead reflects that same belief. The clinical world and the community product world have too often operated in parallel; patients leave hospital with advice but without access to the full range of solutions available to them. This partnership is about closing that gap. IncontinenceProducts.com.au is here as the clinical-grade product resource that supports the referral - stocking disposables, washables, skin care, nutrition, urology, and custom-made solutions across every continence need.