To feel my young cousin being admitted to an adult mental health unit

Living6767 · 2021-01-28T20:51:15+00:00

Is a disgrace. She’s 17 not 18 for another three months. She’s still in school. They have this morning admitted her to adult mental health unit. Surely this is a safeguarding issue?

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 28/01/2021 20:52

Theres a massive shortage of beds. I assume they've put here where they have space. The alternative is she doesn't get a bed at all.

Imiss2019 · 28/01/2021 20:54

They will admit a 17 year old to adult ward under exceptional circumstances. They would have had to have followed very specific guidelines before coming to the decision that it was appropriate in this instance.
I hope your cousin gets the help they need

luxxlisbon · 28/01/2021 20:56

3 months is pretty close.
16 and 17 year olds can be admitted to adult facilities if the individual situation requires it.

FFSAllTheGoodOnesArereadyTaken · 28/01/2021 20:58

In 3 months would she have been admitted to an adult ward? If so then although it's not ideal, in practical terms what do you think will have changed in 3 months that makes it acceptable?

Original poster

Living6767 · 28/01/2021 21:00

Well legally at the moment she’s still a child in three months she will legally be an adult. She’s so scared.

OP posts:

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 28/01/2021 21:03

Are they expecting it to be a long term place? If they are then they may have decided that getting her settled in a children's ward and then moving her would be detrimental.

They will have weighed up the pros and cons and make a best interest decision.

Imiss2019 · 28/01/2021 21:03

I’m sorry to hear she is frightened it can be a frightening place to be but that said spaces on mental Heath wards are scarce so she really would only be admitted because she needs to be.

Toasty280 · 28/01/2021 21:04

If she still requires care in three months and had been admitted to a children's unit, someone would say it's not fair they have an adult here, it would also be unfair to move her if she is responding at that point and it could set her back. Which would you prefer?

Toasty280 · 28/01/2021 21:05

Even when she's 18 she would still be scared getting admitted-everyone is.

CharlotteRose90 · 28/01/2021 21:07

Any person getting admitted Is scary. There is a massive shortage of beds at the minute so with her being so close to an adult they have sent her to an adult facility. The care is still exactly the same nothing will be different.

x2boys · 28/01/2021 21:07

The mental health Trust I used to work for had a regional adolescent unit ,and beds were notoriously scarce on it ,if your cousin is acutely unwell then she need ,s to be admitted it wasent that uncommon for 16/17 yr olds to be admitted to adult wards

movingonup20 · 28/01/2021 21:10

Adult medicine does begin at 16, but there's a crossover. My dd was transferred to adult mental health around 17.5 (outpatient) and adult neurology at 16. No it's not ideal but if it's likely to be an ongoing situation they can't have adults in a children's facility so they might have taken that into consideration too.

OliverBabish · 28/01/2021 21:13

I can promise you - sectioning someone under the Mental Health Act is serious and every single precaution is taken. There is no room for safeguarding issues.

LemonViolet · 28/01/2021 21:13

Is it at least better than no place at all, if she is not safe at home.

I do think that we should have have 3 mental health services - child 0-18, young persons 16-25 and adults 21+... the overlap so you can ensure continuity of care for long term patients and find the most appropriate service for a new patient. This is pie in the sky though without massive investment in mental health services overall.

NoonesHero · 28/01/2021 21:14

The fact that she's been admitted at all indicates she's really unwell, and in need of treatment within a hospital. There's a massive hole in general where mental health provision should be, and it's likely that there are no beds available anywhere else. If the alternative is no treatment, when she needs it most then this is the best place for her to be right now.
Being admitted to a mental health unit is scary, whether you're 17 years and 9 months or 18 years. The fear would still be there if she were in a children's unit.

lanthanum · 28/01/2021 21:18

If she needs admitting again (or is still in there) in three months time, she's presumably going to be on that ward, so at least it wouldn't be somewhere different each time. If space is tight, it probably makes sense.

I would have thought that anyone on a mental health ward comes under safeguarding as a "vulnerable adult", so the same sort of protections would be in place.

LimitIsUp · 28/01/2021 21:21

It sounds like she is in desperate need of support and whilst an adult unit is not ideal it is presumably better than not admitting her?

OrangutanLibrarianGivesAnOok · 28/01/2021 21:22

I was put in an adult mental health unit when I was 16. There are hardly any adolescent mental health units in the country. By the time they find an adolescent bed for your cousin, she’ll be over the age of 18.

Chloemol · 28/01/2021 21:33

If there is nowhere else and she needs help what do you expect them to do?

SunsetSenora · 28/01/2021 21:34

@LemonViolet

Is it at least better than no place at all, if she is not safe at home.

I do think that we should have have 3 mental health services - child 0-18, young persons 16-25 and adults 21+... the overlap so you can ensure continuity of care for long term patients and find the most appropriate service for a new patient. This is pie in the sky though without massive investment in mental health services overall.

Great point, LemonViolet - there really needs to be a transitional service as the difference between childrens and adult services are huge and going from one to the other can be really hard. OP, being sectioned is really scary at any age. There will be things in place to keep a check on her, and as most other patients will be perfectly nice people just going through some issues, she will probably find other patients who look out for her, as well as the staff.

blue25 · 28/01/2021 21:45

It’s not that unusual. Would you rather she wait months for an adolescent place to become available (by which point she’d be 18 anyway)?

HalfGirlHalfCake · 28/01/2021 22:19

Is she a threat to herself or others? This is not a decision taken lightly by the authorities

NoIDontLikeTrains · 28/01/2021 22:39

I was admitted to adult wards at age 16 and age 17, back in the days when children's services only went up to age 16. Lots has changed since then, but what won't have changed is that special attention is paid to keeping minors on adult wards safe.
(And frankly, adult wards are preferable to adolescent units on most counts anyway — I spent years getting over how I was treated by staff on an adolescent unit, whereas adult wards are mostly just boring.)

Twillow · 28/01/2021 22:43

Poor darling. She must really need it to be admitted. It is not easy to get admittance for mental health so I imagine places for borderline child are like hen's teeth. Be there for her and encourage her to go 100% with the therapy and get better. I imagine there would be a lot of older teenagers with equally scary behaviours/problems in a youth unit so don't get too hung up on it.

Stompythedinosaur · 28/01/2021 22:45

Trusts have to identify adult wards that will take young people if there is no other option. It isn't ideal, but is better than nothing (there's a famous case of a young person accommodated in a police cell which is a much worse option that led to this arrangement).

The staff will have completed child safeguarding training and the young person is highly likely to have a staff member with them all the time to ensure they are safe.

Being honest, the lack of MH beds for young people is a disgrace (as is the lack of funding to CAMHS services in the community) but that doesn't mean the ward she is on won't be taking good care of your cousin.