'Rise' in children treated on adult mental health wards

An increasing number of under-18s with mental health problems in England are being treated on adult psychiatric wards, it has emerged.

Using Freedom of Information requests, the BBC and online journal Community Care found the number of under-18s being treated in adult units was in its hundreds - and rising.

Data returned by 51 of the 58 NHS mental health trusts in England showed that 350 under-18s have been admitted so far to adult mental health wards in 2013-14, compared with 242 two years earlier.

Meanwhile, many children are having to travel hundreds of miles to receive hospital treatment, as Michael Buchanan reports.