Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce delays in the provision of children’s mental health care services for young people experiencing acute mental health crises under mental health holds in adult psychiatric facilities.

Wherever possible, when children and young people need to be admitted to an inpatient setting for mental health treatment, they should be accommodated in an environment that is suitable for their age.

Sometimes, clinically urgent situations may necessitate children and young people being placed on wards that are not specialised for their care or are away from their home and family. In these situations, patient safety, the least restrictive environment, and clinical need remains paramount.

It is a statutory requirement for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be notified when a child or young person is placed on an adult ward for a continuous period of longer than 48 hours, with providers required to provide regular updates and give assurance that the children concerned are being safeguarded. The latest information from the CQC’s Monitoring the Mental Health Act: 2023 to 2024 report shows that there were 120 notifications of instances where a person under 18 years old was admitted to an adult ward in 2023/24, a 38% decrease compared with 2022/23.

The model of provision of National Health Service-funded inpatient treatment for children and young people is being re-designed to support the move to community-based provision, where children and young people are able to access appropriate support in a timely, effective, and patient-centred way, close to home, and in the least restrictive environment.

This transition is being supported through provider collaboratives, place-based commissioning, and the development of local services that meet the needs of local communities. The new model will see a change to how inpatient environments are best utilised and options may include increased day provision.

We are also working to improve community mental health services so that fewer children and young people need to be admitted for inpatient care. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to cut wait times and provide faster treatment, provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, and roll out Young Futures Hubs to provide open access mental health support for children and young people.