Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study
Background National policy in England recommends that young people be admitted to mental health wards that are age-appropriate. Despite this, young people continue to be admitted to adult wards. Aims To explore the impact of young people’s admissions to adult wards, from the perspectives of youn...
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Cambridge University Press
2025-03-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008500/type/journal_article |
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| author | Anne-Marie Burn Josephine Holland James Roe Elinor Hopkin Lorna Wild Michelle Fisher Tamsin Ford Saeed Nazir Bernadka Dubicka Anthony James Helena Tuomainen Nicole Fung Adam Wagner Richard Morriss Kapil Sayal |
| author_facet | Anne-Marie Burn Josephine Holland James Roe Elinor Hopkin Lorna Wild Michelle Fisher Tamsin Ford Saeed Nazir Bernadka Dubicka Anthony James Helena Tuomainen Nicole Fung Adam Wagner Richard Morriss Kapil Sayal |
| author_sort | Anne-Marie Burn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background
National policy in England recommends that young people be admitted to mental health wards that are age-appropriate. Despite this, young people continue to be admitted to adult wards.
Aims
To explore the impact of young people’s admissions to adult wards, from the perspectives of young people, parents/carers and mental health professionals working in adult services.
Method
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 participants to explore experiences of receiving and delivering care in adult mental health wards. Participants were four young people (aged 16–17 years), four parents/carers and 21 mental health professionals from adult mental health services in England. Data were analysed using framework analysis.
Results
Young people’s admissions to adult wards tend to occur out of hours, at a time of crisis and when no suitable adolescent bed is available. Admissions were conceptualised as a short-term safety measure rather than for any therapeutic input. Concerns were raised about safeguarding, limited treatment options and a lack of education provision for young people on adult wards. However, exceptionally, for older adolescents, an adult ward might be clinically or socially appropriate. Recommendations to reduce adult ward admissions included better integration of adolescent and adult services, having more flexible policies and increasing community provision.
Conclusions
Our findings emphasise the importance of young people being admitted to age-appropriate in-patient facilities. Earlier intervention and increased provision of specialist care in the community could prevent young people’s admissions to adult wards.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-37543f7dcff642a5b084ad29bb81239a |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-37543f7dcff642a5b084ad29bb81239a2025-08-20T03:01:47ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242025-03-011110.1192/bjo.2024.850Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative studyAnne-Marie Burn0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0637-2118Josephine Holland1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6343-8443James Roe2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9514-5629Elinor Hopkin3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3500-5517Lorna Wild4Michelle Fisher5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4556-7559Tamsin Ford6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5295-4904Saeed Nazir7https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9152-7412Bernadka Dubicka8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8907-8589Anthony James9Helena Tuomainen10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1636-8187Nicole Fung11https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6772-7479Adam Wagner12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9101-3477Richard Morriss13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2910-4121Kapil Sayal14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2050-4316Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Medicine, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UKNational Institute for Health and Care Research, Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East Midlands, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UKNIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC GM), University of Manchester, Manchester, UKOxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UKNational Institute for Health and Care Research, Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West Midlands, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKNottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham, UKHull and York Medical School, University of York, York, UK School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKOxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UKNIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands, University of Warwick, Coventry, UKBirmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UKNational Institute for Health and Care Research, Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East of England, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UKSchool of Medicine, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UKSchool of Medicine, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK Background National policy in England recommends that young people be admitted to mental health wards that are age-appropriate. Despite this, young people continue to be admitted to adult wards. Aims To explore the impact of young people’s admissions to adult wards, from the perspectives of young people, parents/carers and mental health professionals working in adult services. Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 participants to explore experiences of receiving and delivering care in adult mental health wards. Participants were four young people (aged 16–17 years), four parents/carers and 21 mental health professionals from adult mental health services in England. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Results Young people’s admissions to adult wards tend to occur out of hours, at a time of crisis and when no suitable adolescent bed is available. Admissions were conceptualised as a short-term safety measure rather than for any therapeutic input. Concerns were raised about safeguarding, limited treatment options and a lack of education provision for young people on adult wards. However, exceptionally, for older adolescents, an adult ward might be clinically or socially appropriate. Recommendations to reduce adult ward admissions included better integration of adolescent and adult services, having more flexible policies and increasing community provision. Conclusions Our findings emphasise the importance of young people being admitted to age-appropriate in-patient facilities. Earlier intervention and increased provision of specialist care in the community could prevent young people’s admissions to adult wards. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008500/type/journal_articleIn-patient treatmentqualitative researchchild and adolescent psychiatrymental health servicespatients |
| spellingShingle | Anne-Marie Burn Josephine Holland James Roe Elinor Hopkin Lorna Wild Michelle Fisher Tamsin Ford Saeed Nazir Bernadka Dubicka Anthony James Helena Tuomainen Nicole Fung Adam Wagner Richard Morriss Kapil Sayal Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study BJPsych Open In-patient treatment qualitative research child and adolescent psychiatry mental health services patients |
| title | Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study |
| title_full | Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study |
| title_fullStr | Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study |
| title_short | Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: national qualitative study |
| title_sort | impact of young people s admissions to adult mental health wards in england national qualitative study |
| topic | In-patient treatment qualitative research child and adolescent psychiatry mental health services patients |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008500/type/journal_article |
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