‘No capacity anywhere’ to deal with unprecedented surge in children’s mental health demand

There is ‘no capacity anywhere’ to deal with an unprecedented surge in admissions of children with mental health problems, a senior clinician has told HSJ.

Last week, multiple children with eating disorders were understood to have been left on children’s wards in general acute hospitals, due to specialist mental health units across England being full.

This appears to be a deterioration from the situation last month, when several areas of the country were reporting an extreme shortage of specialist beds.

Rory Conn, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ children and adolescent mental health division, told HSJ that specialist inpatient beds were full nationally.

He added: “We are seeing a greater number of children restricting [their food and drink] intake for a variety of reasons, often to extreme degrees.

“Some are stopping eating and drinking entirely, in a clinical pattern that we haven’t traditionally seen. For example, they might not have an identified eating disorder like anorexia, but their restriction seems to be a response to their uncertain social environment during the pandemic.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 23 March 2021