Most recently the paper obtained damning statistics that show the number of in-patient beds for children and teenagers has plummeted. "Figures obtained by The Scotsman show there are now just nine beds in the whole of Scotland, down from 30 since 1999," the paper reports. The Scotsman also reveals there are just three in-patient units in Scotland for young people with mental health problems.
This means hundreds go to adult centres where there is no specialist treatment and they can be at risk from adult patients. Only a few weeks before, the paper revealed children as young as 12 were being forced onto adult psychiatric wards. The Scotsman has spoken to some top people and former service users like Diane who was admitted to an adult ward in her late teens and was terrified. "It was a horrible place for us to be ... there's no way we should have been on an adult ward," she says. It's a shocking picture. Let's hope politicians and policy-makers take note.
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