Rise in young on adult mental health wards

The number of young people admitted to adult mental health wards has increased since last year, a new report has shown.

Eighty young people were admitted to primarily adult wards for mental health treatmentin 2021-22, up from 62 in 2020-21.

The report from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland shows 51.3 per cent of young people admitted to hospital for treatment of mental ill health were to non-specialist children' s wards.

This was the first time in recent years that a majority of young people were not sent to specialist child and adolescent inpatient units.

Young people were admitted to adult wards due to a shortage of specialist beds for young people and a lack of provision of highly specialised care for young people with a learning disability, young people who have offended due to mental health difficulties and require forensic care and who require intensive psychiatric care.

↑ Professor Martin Mckee: ‘Too many people simply don’t

↑ Shortage of mental health beds for young people

know if their families will have money, food or shelter from one week to the next and doctors are left feeling helpless in the face of ever-increasing levels of ill health’