Sick children, including cancer patients, are being refused a free education on the wards of one of the country's leading children's hospitals if they go to private schools.
Instead, their outraged parents have been told to pay £115 an hour for the one-to-one tutoring that state-school children receive for free.
One little boy, who spent months at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, had to watch as children in neighbouring beds received the daily schooling he was denied.
The hospital – known locally as the 'Sick Kids' – has tutors provided by Labour-run Edinburgh City Council to teach children too poorly to attend school.
At other prominent children's hospitals, such as Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, a free education is provided for all inpatient children.
