Res Medica

Abstract

PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES FOR CHILDREN

The lack of psychiatric services for children is acute. At the present time, the paediatrician, however greatly interested in the ease, is often required to deal with frank emotional and behavioural problems in which he and the only available psychiatrist may have no special training.

Thus, in a recent report based on information obtained from paediatric units throughout the United Kingdom, the facilities available to adolescents who had left school were said to be in almost every case simply the general paediatric and adult mental services. For children of school age, both In- and Out-Patient psychiatric services were said to be very inadequate. Regarding in-patient treatment, psychiatrists are very often compelled to make use of beds in general paediatric departments. The waiting period for an out-patient appointment can be very long—in one extreme case, 2 ½ years. No information was available in the report regarding the facilities for children of preschool age.