First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has promised to examine concerns about children and young people psychiatric service provision in the north.
She said the lack of specialised hospital bed provision – there is only one at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness – was a “serious” issue and Health Secretary Shona Robison would look into it.
The situation means young people with severe and complex mental health problems are either treated in adult wards, at home or in a unit in Dundee.
Ms Sturgeon made the commitment yesterday after north-east Conservative MSP Nanette Milne raised the issue at Holyrood.
The Tory politician asked the SNP leader if any young people with mental health problems had ever been admitted into a young offenders institution for treatment and urged her to undertake a review of the provision of child psychiatric beds.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There are occasions on which young people under 18 are admitted to adult wards.
“Most of them are aged 16 and 17 and an adult facility might, in certain circumstances, be judged to be clinically appropriate.
“Obviously, it is not something that we want to happen.”
Ms Sturgeon said work to build a new 12-bed in-patient unit in Dundee was expected to be completed by late next year, increasing national provision to 48 beds.
She added the government was investing £15million over the next three years to improve mental health services.
Ms Sturgeon said the money would be spent on a mental health innovation fund and boosting staff numbers to meet “rising demand” for child and adolescent mental health services.
“The issue is serious and the government is doing serious work to address it but I recognise that we need to do more,” she added.
Ms Sturgeon said she was happy to examine Aberdeen Donside MSP Mark McDonald’s suggestion that specialist nurses could lead community based mental health services.