Child visits to emergency departments for mental health issues triple

Australian children receive mental health care from a variety of community-based organisations, but recently it has been noted that an increasing number of children and young people are presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with mental health problems. It appears that current mental health services are failing to provide alternatives to emergency departments for adolescents in crisis.

Hiscock, H., Neely, R. J., Lei, S., & Freed, G. (2018). Paediatric mental and physical health presentations to emergency departments, Victoria, 2008-15. Medical journal of Australia, 208 (80, 343-348

You can also read the editorial on this topic in the same issue for free:

Sawyer, S. M., & Patton, G. C. (2018). Why are so many more adolescents presenting to our emergency departments with mental health problems?. The Medical Journal of Australia, 208(8), 339-340.