The number of young people being treated for mental illness in non-specialist hospital wards has risen for a second year in a row in Scotland, official records show.

In 2018-19, patients under the age of 18 admitted to non-specialist hospital wards, nearly all of which were adult wards, rose to 118. These admissions involved 101 young people and was an increase on the previous year’s figures of 103 admissions involving 90 young people.

The report, published on Wednesday by the Mental Welfare Commission, said the Scottish government needs to do more to prevent young people suffering from mental health difficulties being treated in adult wards, as these wards differ in staff training and the environment is not designed to care for young people.

The admissions of young people with mental illness to unspecialised largely adult wards peaked between 2013-14 and 2014-15 when admissions above 200 were recorded each year. The lowest numbers were recorded in 2016-17, when there were 71 admissions involving 66 young people, but figures have steadily increased since.

The Mental Welfare Commission is once again calling on the Scottish government to prioritise providing intensive psychiatric care unit (IPCU) facilities for young people. Currently, there are no such facilities in Scotland.

The findings show that children in care made up 21% of all the young people admitted to non-specialist wards. This is a higher percentage than in 2014-15, when looked after children made up 13%.

The report notes that young people are being admitted to adult wards because of a shortage of specialist beds, a lack of provision for highly specialised care for young people with learning disability; young people who have offended due to mental health difficulties; and young people who require intensive psychiatric care provided on specialised units.

While the majority of admissions of young people to non-specialist wards wereof short duration, 38% remained on those wards for over a week.

The commission also recommended that health boards review the adequacy of provision and clearer protocols in the interim for young people who require forensic or learning disability inpatient facilities as these are not yet available in Scotland.

The commission welcomed figures showing that in 91% of admissions in non-specialist wards, the young person had specialist senior medical input.

Dr Arun Chopra, executive director at the Mental Welfare Commission, said: “Whilst it was reassuring to see that the vast majority of young people had specialist senior medical input on admission, adult wards differ in staff training and ward environment to those designed to care for young people.

“Adult intensive psychiatric care units (IPCUs) in particular can often be unsuitable environments for adolescents. They are specialised units for adults who are very unwell and present with high risk to themselves or others.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Although there has been a slight increase in admissions compared with last year, the numbers of young people being admitted to non-specialist IPUs has reduced. The rate of admissions has remained relatively consistent over the last few years, and is significantly lower than the rate of admissions in 2014-15.

“We will conduct an independently-led review of IPCU provision for under-18s and a Clinical Director of CAMHS has been appointed to lead this. The review will last approximately five months, and we expect it to conclude in Autumn of this year.”

The Scottish government will publish a protocol for admissions of young people to adult wards in the coming months.



