Currently, children and young people with mental health illnesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are having to travel hundreds of miles to access a specialist mental health bed. However, this is soon to change because, on 31 March 2017, NHS England announced that a new child and adolescent mental health until will be built in Cornwall. It is understood that the facility will be a 12 bed unit, which is to be built on the current Bodmin Hospital site, and will accommodate males and females up to the age of 18.

Having had extensive experience in representing both children and families in situations where the child or young person has had to move hundreds of miles away from home to receive the care and treatment they require, including before the Mental Health Tribunal, we very much welcome this news.