Mental Health Inpatient Census 2024 - Parts 1 and 2

5. Children and Young People treated in NHS Scotland facilities

This section looks at patients in the Census aged under 18, regardless of whether they receive Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). It is not possible to provide further breakdowns of these figures into categories as the number of patients is low, so only high-level information is presented.

Patients Aged Under 18:

Patients under 18 are mainly treated in Regional Services located in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lothian, and NHS Tayside. There were 52 available beds in wards across these services at the 2024 Census.

• In the 2024 Census, there were 40 patients aged under 18.
• 19 patients were aged 15 or under, and 21 were aged 16 to 17.
• 36 out of the 40 patients were in either a Children’s Unit or Young Person’s unit.
• 35 (88%) patients aged under 18 were referred by a Community Mental Health Service.
• 73% of patients under 18 were female.
• 75% of patients under 18 were seen by a consultant who specialised in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The average (median) number of days since admission at the time of the Census was 51.5 days. 25% of patients under 18 had been in hospital for less than 2 weeks at the 2024 Census.

Patients’ conditions were recorded at the time of the census. There were 17 patients under 18 with a diagnosis of a Behavioural Syndrome, 14 patients with a diagnosis of Autism, and 8 patients with a diagnosis of Neurotic Stress. Other diagnoses were recorded for small numbers of patients. Patients can have more than one condition.