This year's Mental Health Act addresses what England's children's commissioner Al Aynsley Green calls the "national scandal" of placing children and young people on adult mental health wards.
The legislation places a new duty on all primary care trusts (PCTs) to ensure patients under 18 are treated in age- appropriate facilities. Among those to welcome this move is campaign group YoungMinds. Its report, Pushed into the Shadows, estimates that about 1,000 children and young people are allocated adult beds each year, where in many cases they are left feeling isolated or exposed to sexual harassment and violence. "It will take some trusts longer than others to ensure that inappropriate bed allocation does not continue, but this duty will help concentrate minds," says Barbara Herts, chief executive of YoungMinds.
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