Vulnerable teens sent far from home as unit stays shut

Teens and young adults with severe mental health conditions are still being sent hundreds of miles from home after the West's only specialist inpatient unit said it will stay closed for up to two more years.

Riverside Adolescent Mental Health Unit near Bristol shut in January 2024 following the death of 17‑year‑old Lucy Curtis.

This news, alongside the permanent closure of Wessex House, means the area has no local Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) beds.

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) said: "Work is under way to develop a modern, safe, and clinically effective facility that integrates inpatient care with enhanced community-based support."

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) has warned that young people placed far from home are likely to stay in hospital longer, and face greater difficulties returning to community care

A recent board meeting of the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB) heard that the closures had left the area with no local Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) beds.

In a statement to the board, it said: "The closure of Riverside and Wessex House means BNSSG currently has no local Tier 4 CAMHS provision, leading to 103 young people being placed across the region and nationally since January 2024.

"An independent review found Riverside unsuitable for future Tier 4 use, and NHS England is updating the service specification to support young people with more complex needs.

"The Trust is exploring alternative estate options, but significant capital requirements mean no reopening before 2027/28. In the meantime, temporary placements and strengthened crisis and home treatment services are being used to mitigate the impact."

Dr Guy Northover, chair of the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the RCP, said sending vulnerable young people far from home was damaging and avoidable.

"It's unacceptable that sick and extremely vulnerable young people with mental illness are being sent miles from their friends and families, quite often for months on end, because the treatment they need is not in the local area," he told the BBC.

"We know that young people who are sent further away from home are likely to have a longer inpatient stay, and we know that discharge is more difficult because it's harder to link in with local community services."

He added: "There is certainly a risk that the admission is longer, and a longer admission can mean that on discharge a young person will take longer to fully recover from their crisis."

The lack of local inpatient beds has had profound consequences for families across the region.

In a further statement, AWP said Riverside was temporarily closed in January 2024 following "serious incidents and safety concerns", including whether the building's infrastructure could safely meet the needs of young people and staff.

It said young people from the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area who require Tier 4 inpatient care have continued to be admitted to units in Devon and Cornwall, and occasionally further afield for specialist care.

AWP said it was carrying out a detailed options appraisal for a new Tier 4 unit while strengthening interim support, including community‑based crisis services and exploring local inpatient capacity.

Sarah Jones, chief nursing officer for AWP, said: "As we work with partners to design a modern, high quality Tier 4 service for the future, we are equally focused on having reliable interim plans in place which include access to care as close to home as possible."

John Powell knows first‑hand the risks of treating vulnerable young people far from home.

His daughter, Jessica Powell, died in 2020 aged 20 while trying to abscond from a psychiatric ward at Summerlands Hospital in Yeovil.

He said the lack of specialist inpatient beds close to home played a major role in her death.

"She spent from the age of 13 to 18 most of that time out of area," he said.

"I think her medical health was worse, not better, because you don't have that interaction between yourselves, the staff and your child when they're in these places.

"You're out of the loop. You get bad phone calls, or you hear that she's harmed while she's there, and you can't go and see her because they're miles and miles away."

Mr Powell said being separated from family and support networks during adolescence made recovery far more difficult.

"These children are not just dealing with mental health issues – they're going through puberty, they're growing up.

"Sending them hundreds of miles from home, away from their support network, makes their situation even worse."

He added: "The time she spent in some of these units, I don't think they were fit for purpose. I think they made her illness worse, not better, and her unfortunate death six years ago – I think being out of area was a major factor in that."

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