The majority of children attending the hospital have chronic and complex conditions so have high levels of repeat attendance.  Over 900 children require sleep monitoring per year.  Monitoring is performed to diagnose and manage sleep distrubances resulting from their underlying conditions, such as congenital craniofacial anomalies.  Research indicates that as well as the risk of asphyxia, the low level of oxygen caused by disrupted breathing can have a long term affect on growth and development.  Children are currently admitted to the inpatient ward for overnight sleep studies.  There are also problems with children being unsettled by being in a different environment, which can distort the test results.  It also results in children who are otherwise medically stable being admitted to hospital.  UPDATE AUGUST 2003:  Project was due to start in January 2002 and was explored but put on hold awaiting confirmation of funding.