200 kids left in adult mental health wards
HUNDREDS of mentally ill children are still on adult psychiatric wards despite a government pledge to ban the practice eight years ago.
New NHS Digital figures show 217 vulnerable youngsters were put on adult wards last year due to a shortage of beds for children in England.
Between them they spent 2,168 days alongside much older patients in the 12 months to April 2018.
Lib Dem Norman Lamb, a former health minister, said: “This is a scandalous practice which should be ended immediately.
“We know that it can cause additional distress and harm recovery, so we are essentially failing children when they are at their most vulnerable. The bottom line is we need better mental health support to prevent children reaching crisis point.
“But where children need to be admitted to hospital as a last resort, this should always be in a therapeutic environment and never an adult ward.”
A 2010 clause in the Mental Health Act states that under 18s should only be placed on adult wards in exceptional circumstances – while under 16s never should be. Since then numbers LOOKS like rocker Rod Stewart still has water it takes as he moves in for a cuddle with missus Penny Lancaster on a boat.
But after lunch on the holiday trip in Capri Italy, Rod 73 took a nap and was later helped ashore. Altogether now: We are frail-ing... have fallen from 391 in 2014-15 to the 217 recorded last year.
But campaigners who back the Mirror’s Time To Change plea for better understanding of mental illness, say it is not enough. Tom Madders, a director at the YoungMinds charity, said: “Young people often find it frightening to be alongside older patients and say it adds to their distress. If a child is so unwell that they need to be admitted to hospital, they should always receive care appropriate for their age.
“We need more investment in intensive community services, which would reduce need for inpatient care in the first place.” The Department of Health and Social Care said it was “committed to eliminating inappropriate use of beds by 2021”. A £1.4billion investment would improve children’s mental health services – and provide 180 more inpatient beds.
nicola.small@ trinitymirror.com