 Mr Williams said teenagers often ended up in adult hospital wards |
Teenagers with eating disorders or psychiatric problems are not getting the best care, Northern Ireland's children's commissioner has said. Nigel Williams said young people often end up on adult hospital wards - because there is a shortage of specialist facilities in the province.
Addressing graduating students in the school of nursing and midwifery at Queen's University Belfast on Thursday, Nigel Williams said there were too few specialist units in the province to treat adolescents with problems.
He said those with eating or serious psychiatric disorders often wound up on general wards with adults, and in some cases, on geriatric wards.
"Was this the best way to help them on the road to recovery?" he asked.
He added that he wondered if the system risked the young people being further damaged by being exposed to such environments.
BBC Northern Ireland's health correspondent Dot Kirby said the gaps highlighted by Mr Williams have been well recognised in the health service for years.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
