General · 20 May 2026
Children wait three days for mental health beds
Young individuals experiencing mental health emergencies are enduring detrimental waiting periods within emergency departments, which nursing staff describe as inappropriate settings. NHS figures reveal some young people in England spend up to three days there before getting a specialist bed. The RCN labeled this a "catastrophic system-wide failure," noting that 12-hour waits for individuals under 18 have more than tripled since 2019.
Reported by Guardian · How we write briefs