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Studies reveal that suicidal children under the age of 12 must wait more than two weeks before they can receive beds in mental health units, even if their lives are in danger.
A study of young people under the age of 18 with severe mental health problems found that shortages of beds and staff meant that NHS services for troubled youth had become dangerously "exhausted".
Young people who have tried to end their lives by hurting themselves or taking an overdose are facing delays of up to 15 days between the first visit and obtaining a cure. place in a unit. Services for children and adolescents are so much in demand that even a large area like London, which has 10 NHS mental health trusts, sometimes lacks beds.
In one case, a very troubled child had to be taken 283 miles from the capital to Newcastle because no bed could be left between. In another case, a teenager with psychosis who was also at risk of suicide was found 167 km away in Sheffield.
The findings dramatically illustrate the crisis in NHS mental health care for people under the age of 18, particularly those whose illness is so serious that it is life-threatening, a situation that Theresa May has placed among her personal priorities. They are undergoing an audit – conducted by four psychiatrists, including Dr. Dan Poulter, former Minister of Health – of 71 children who ended up in A & E after experiencing a mental health crisis between the end of 2015 and the spring of 2018 and which has been entrusted to the care of children. NHS Trust for South London and Maudsley (Slam). Slam is the largest specialized mental health trust in England.
Norman Lamb, former Minister of Mental Health, warned that having to wait for a bed could increase the risk that young people are trying to end their lives. Ministers and NHS leaders must urgently end the shameful practice of sending such patients away from home for treatment, he said.
"This audit exposes the gap between government rhetoric and the reality of too many young people and vulnerable people. We should not just tolerate delays like this. We would not put the lives of cancer patients at risk. Yet this happens regularly in mental health services, "said Lamb, a Liberal Democrat. "For seriously ill young people, immediate access to beds near their homes is needed. This persistent practice of keeping sick family members and friends across the country away from family and friends is shameful and generates more trauma in an already critical situation. "
Slam psychiatrists who treated the 71 patients expressed the fear that if they were sent out of the zone, they might aggravate the distress of a young person in crisis and jeopardize their chances of recovery. Acute care hospitals, where children under 18 are initially cared for in a pediatric ward, are not as safe for vulnerable youths as specialized facilities, he added.
The audit showed that 38 out of 71 people were prone to suicide. Despite this, the longest wait for a bed that was faced by one of the 14 suicidal persons under 18 was 15 days and 15 hours. Another waited seven days and two hours. One out of six patients who had just tried to commit suicide waited six days and 22 hours and another five days and 19 hours.
Of the 17 patients who recently took an overdose, one suffered a delay of 12 days and 23 hours and another of six days and one hour. The patient who had suicidal thoughts waited five days and 21 hours. In another case, a girl with eating disorders and other mental health issues, who was not suicidal, had to wait 64 days to be able to have a bed in her bed. a specialized unit, which was also "out of area".
"The longer the wait for admission into an active psychiatric bed is long, the longer a child or youth has to wait to be able to benefit from treatment and specialized care in the most appropriate setting. These delays can sometimes prolong the hospitalization of a young person, increasing their distress and sometimes delaying the launch of all the mental health care they need and that they can only receive in a specialized setting, "said Poulter.
Poulter pointed out that Slam's ability to support an increasing number of young people with mental health problems was hampered by a lack of resources. "Both the trust and the staff are doing their best for children and youth within the confines of an underfunded mental health system and, therefore, under-resourced and understaffed.
"The fundamental problem is the chronic lack of staff and resources that results from the lack of investment from consecutive governments."
The government says that more than 100 beds have been opened across the country in recent years and that 40 new beds are planned by March.
Claire Murdoch, National Director of Mental Health at NHS England, said: "This audit is now obsolete, according to information collected four years ago. 61 extra beds have been opened in London only since December 2017. But we know how to listen to young people and their families want specialized mental health support in their community, closer to home. That's why the NHS's long-term plan calls for increased community care, including intensive after-care support in the community, as well as earlier investment in wait time standards for eating disorders. "
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