Emergency admissions to a regional adolescent unit: piloting a new service

Abstract

Adolescent in-patient units within the NHS generally provide a broad range of services to large catchment areas and populations. ‘Pine Lodge’ Young People's Centre in Chester has piloted a new emergency admission service which it has run in conjunction with its existing treatment service. This paper sets out to discuss the potential difficulties in providing such a service in the setting of a general purpose adolescent unit; describe the specification of the piloted emergency service; and present the results of monitoring its use and efficacy during the first six months.