SERIOUS concerns about the lack of residential treatment for children in Scotland experiencing severe mental illness – leaving them parked on long waiting lists, or placed in unsafe and unsuitable adult facilities – are to be highlighted by the Scottish Human Rights Commission in a report to the United Nations.

The report, being presented to the UN’s Committee against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva tomorrow, sets out 21 recommendations to the Scottish Government on improving its human rights record in relation to the prevention of inhuman or degrading treatment. As well as the problematic treatment of people with mental illness and in care homes, the report will raise systematic failures in investigating deaths in custody, and understaffing and overcrowding in prisons.

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It will also highlight the situation of young people in need of psychiatric care, who due to a lack of specialist bed provision, can find themselves on long waiting lists, sparking fears about life-threatening deterioration of their conditions. Those able to access one of a limited number of specialist hospital beds for 12-16-year-olds – 24 beds in Glasgow, 12 in Edinburgh and 12 in Dundee – can find themselves placed hundreds of miles from their homes, families and friends.

Figures show that 14 young people – including five under 16 – were placed in adult Intensive Psychiatric care units (IPCU) last year, which the Mental Welfare Commission has said are highly unsuitable for children and potentially unsafe.

Judith Robertson, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, told the Sunday National: “Children and young people experiencing severe mental illness are particularly vulnerable to violations of their rights. The lack of appropriate bed provision results in children and young people being forced to remain at home, without appropriate treatment, potentially with their health deteriorating as a result, or for them to be treated in units far from home, causing them great distress and isolation.

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“The alternative of placing vulnerable young people into adult psychiatric units is unacceptable and risks causing them further trauma and distress, long-term psychiatric harm or increasing their risk of suicide. The families of those affected are also placed under undue stress.

“The Commission’s role, as part of the international human rights system, is to hold the Government to account for its actions and inactions when it comes to protecting people’s rights. That’s why we are highlighting its failure to address the continued lack of provision of appropriate specialist wards for children and young people experiencing psychiatric illness to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.” Though the Scottish Government is reviewing the services, she claimed it must act with “a much greater sense of urgency”.

SHRC’s calls were supported by the Mental Welfare Commission, which published a report last December in which it revealed 90 young people had been admitted to non-specialist beds 103 times in the last year. It said not enough action had been taken to develop local specialist services.

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A Mental Welfare Commission spokesperson said: “The Commission shares many of the concerns raised by the SHRC in its submission to the UN CAT. In relation to children and young people, we are concerned that there is no specialist intensive psychiatric provision for the small number of young people who need this kind of intensive support.”

Children and Young People’s Commissioner, Bruce Adamson said the issue highlighted the need for the Rights of the Child to be incorporated into Scots law, a commitment made by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in her SNP conference speech last Saturday.

“Children have told us about their feelings of panic and lack of control over their own lives when such decisions are made that don’t include them,” he added. “When a child is already vulnerable cutting them off from their family connections and placing them in settings that are inappropriate to their age is completely unacceptable and has a further detrimental impact on their mental health.”

Pauline Cavanagh, manager of Partners in Advocacy – which provides a specialist children and young people’s advocacy service – said her team had witnessed the distressing impact of separation from families.

“We have observed that many of these young people from more remote parts of the country have not been able to see their families and friends very often due to the distances involved,” she added. Cost was also a factor, she claimed. “As some young people are admitted for treatment for eating disorders, psychosis, severe depression and OCD, their admissions can be lengthy before they are fit to be discharged home,” she added. Young people reported feeling isolated, anxious and lonely.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it was investing £4 million in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to find interventions that would reduce the demand on specialist services. He added: “The Scottish Government is committed to improving mental health service provision for children and young people with the expectation of good quality care and treatment for all. Our Programme for Government has mental health at its very heart, with a package of measures to support positive mental health.”