Clause 24
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; Doncaster Central, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I should say that the figures show, for example, that in some parts of the country, there have been no bed days recorded at all for under-16s, particularly over the last year. I shall come on later to set out the programme that we have put in place to ensure that that does not happen. With regard to 16 and 17-year-olds, the hon. Gentleman is right to say that the measurement tends to be in bed days. When I saw that, I thought that we should be talking about people here, and I want to look at how we can record that more effectively. I think that there is a way we can do that. The number of in-patient bed days has fallen, but nevertheless, as the hon. Gentleman says, it is difficult to get a clear understanding of what that means in terms of young people, and whether it is about re-admissions. I agree that we need to look at that, and I am actively doing so.
At the meeting that I had with YoungMinds, it was fair to say that it acknowledged the progress that we have made so far by implementing the Government’s CAMHS policies. There is no doubt that the central investment that is being made has led to a major change on the ground. It has meant a significant increase, for example, in multidisciplinary and joint working across professions and agencies and has meant looking closely at how some of the key players can be engaged in the development of services at local level. We began collecting the information in 2005. We need to be clear that such information was not collected before. We started collecting information about the use of adult psychiatric wards for children and adolescents so that we could performance-manage more closely that aspect of the service. I accept that it relates to bed days, but that is how such data are normally collected.
In November last year, the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, South (Mr. Lewis), made a clear commitment that within two years no child under 16 would be placed on an adult ward in England while being treated for a mental disorder. The Department is working closely with strategic health authorities to ensure that that commitment is fulfilled. We intend to do so by writing to SHAs, making clear our expectations with regard to children on adult psychiatric wards, emphasising the commitment that within two years no child under 16 will be treated on an adult ward. If a child of 16 or under is placed exceptionally on an adult psychiatric ward, we expect that to be reported to the Department as a serious untoward incident. Furthermore, we expect that the child should not stay on the ward for more than 48 hours, that the ward should be specially equipped to deal with the child and that the staff dealing with the child should be appropriately qualified.
Mr. Boswell rose—