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There is not enough demand to open a dedicated children's mental health ward in Jersey, according to the island's Mental Health Director.
Under-16s who need inpatient mental health treatment are currently cared for on Robin Ward at the Hospital – and there are no plans to change this arrangement.
Ahead of the opening of the new Clinique Pinel facility, Mental Health Director Andy Weir explained that patients aged 16-18 can be accommodated there alongside adults.
The new Orchard Ward has been designed so that corridors can be partitioned off – allowing minors to be completely separate from adults, for example.
But patients under 16 will have to remain in Robin Ward, or be sent to the UK if they are in need of a specialist CAMHS provision.
Pictured: One of the rooms in Clinique Pinel, where patients aged 16-18 can be accommodated alongside adults.
Mr Weir said: "We have looked at: is there enough demand to have a young person's mental health unit?
"And there just simply isn't. It would be ridiculous to open."
He explained: "It would be empty for two-thirds of the year, and then when you needed to staff it, you'd be staffing it with people that aren't necessarily experts in looking after young people because they'd be doing it so infrequently."
Mr Weir said that some young islanders are still sent to the UK if they require a specialist CAMHS provision.
"We've done that a few times in the last year. We would look after them here [in Jersey] until we can get a CAMHS bed," he said.
"That's all about balance because it means that you're taking people away from their families, of course, and separating them from their friends and all that."
He added that the arrangement for children were dependent on their clinical needs, with some preferring to have a short admission and then go on to be cared for in the community.
Pictured top: Andy Weir at Orchard Ward, where the adult mental health ward is due to move next week. (Rob Currie)
WATCH: Jersey's new mental health ward set to open next week
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