Changing patterns of health risk in adolescence: implications for health policy.

Adolescence is a time of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. This period is a very sensitive developmental window; environmental exposures, the development of health behaviours (eg, smoking and physical activity), and illness during adolescence can have implications for lifelong health. In the UK and other high-income countries, the experience of adolescence has changed profoundly over the past 20 years.

Admissions to paediatric medical wards with a primary mental health diagnosis: a systematic review of the literature.

Objective: To systematically review the literature describing children and young people (CYP) admissions to paediatric general wards because of primary mental health (MH) reasons, particularly in MH crisis.

Design: PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched, with no restriction on country or language. We addressed five search questions to inform: trends and/or the number of admissions, the risk factors for adverse care, the experiences of CYP, families/carers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the evidence of interventions aimed at improving the care during admissions.

Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study (MAPS): a protocol for the analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data.

Introduction: Children and young people (CYP) presenting with a mental health (MH) crisis are frequently admitted to general acute paediatric wards as a place of safety. Prior to the pandemic, a survey in England showed that CYP occupied 6% of general paediatric inpatient beds due to an MH crisis, and there have been longstanding concerns about the quality of care to support these patients in this setting. Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study aims to generate a theory of change (ToC) model to improve the quality of care for CYP admitted to acute paediatric services after presenting in a MH crisis.

Mental Health Admissions to Paediatric Wards Study (MAPS): protocol of a prospective study of mental health admissions to paediatric wards in England using surveillance and qualitative methods.

Introduction: Children and young people (CYP) presenting with a mental health (MH) crisis are frequently admitted to general acute paediatric wards as a place of safety. Prior to the pandemic, a survey in England showed that CYP occupied 6% of general paediatric inpatient beds due to an MH crisis, and there have been longstanding concerns about the quality of care to support these patients in this setting. MAPS aims to generate a Theory of Change (ToC) model to improve the quality of care for CYP admitted to acute paediatric services after presenting with an MH crisis.

Getting health services right for 16-25 year-olds.

The 2019 NHS England Long Term Plan set out the ambition to work across the 0-25 age range to support children and young people as they make the transition to early adulthood. Within this broad age bracket, how do we ensure we get health services right for 16-25 year-olds including the transfer to adult services? In this paper, we explore the evidence supporting youth-friendly and developmentally appropriate healthcare approaches and what these mean in practice for young people and healthcare professionals. Examples from primary and secondary care, as well as the perspectives of a young person, illustrate the challenges and solutions.