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.

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I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.