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The MAP study: understanding and improving mental health admissions to paediatric wards
- Dr Lee HudsonClinical Associate Professor, UCL Institute of Child Health; Consultant General Paediatrician, Great Ormond Street Hospital
Key points
- Admissions to general children's wards because of a mental health crisis rose by 65% in England between 2012 and 2022.
- Among girls aged 11 to 15 with eating disorders, these admissions rose by around 500%, and admissions are also getting longer.
- The study has three work packages, and a stakeholder group is helping to turn the findings into recommendations for better care.
Dr Lee Hudson, Clinical Associate Professor, UCL Institute of Child Health; Consultant General Paediatrician, Great Ormond Street Hospital, introduces the MAP study (Mental Health Admissions to the Paediatric Ward), an NIHR-funded project based at University College London. The study responds to a marked rise in children admitted to general paediatric wards for acute mental health crises—a trend with little existing literature. Over the past decade, there has been a 65% increase in such admissions in England, with a particularly dramatic 500% rise among 11–15-year-old girls with eating disorders. The project comprises three work packages: analysis of national trends (recently published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health), a surveillance study with 15 hospitals to gather granular data on admissions, and qualitative interviews with young people, families, and staff to identify areas for improvement. The findings are being synthesised with input from major stakeholders, including the RCPCH, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, young people, and parents, to develop recommendations for better care both in the UK and internationally. Dr Hudson emphasises the urgent need for improved approaches, as mental health admissions to paediatric wards are increasing and require better support for both patients and staff. This interview took place at the RCPCH conference 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Read the transcript
Automatic transcript, lightly edited for readability. It may contain errors, so check it against the video before quoting.
So the MAP study, or Mental Health Admissions to the Paediatric Ward study, is an NIHR funded study. It's based at University College London, and we've noticed and heard that more and more children were being admitted to general children's wards because of acute mental health crisis. There's very little literature on this and we know that people want to make this better, better for staff and better for children, young people and their families.
So we've had a project that's been running for the last two years. It's made up of three work packages. The first work package, where we've actually produced a paper in the Lancet recently, Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, which is looking at overall numbers and trends of those admissions in England, and what we found between 2012 and 2022 was that there was a 65% increase in admissions to general children's wards because of a mental health crisis. In particular the 11 to 15 year old girls and eating disorders, where there's been around a 500% increase in those admissions. We also know that admissions are getting longer. So the number of admissions lasting more than two weeks or longer.
Work package two has been a collaborative work with 15 other hospitals in England where we've been doing a surveillance study to get actual granular data on children and young people admitted to ward, so we know who's been sectioned, how long they're in for and what the problems they've encountered.
And work package 3 is a qualitative piece of work where we are interviewing children, young people and staff to understand what needs to be done better about these ward admissions, what's not so good about those admissions. And we're pulling all that together with a big stakeholder group, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and young people and parents, to come up with a recommendation for anyone internationally and in the UK about what we need to do better about this.
The key thing with this is that there's very little literature on this at all, and these children, young people and the staff looking after them deserve better. It's here to stay. We all need to get better at it, and I think our data is delivering to show that we need to work harder at it and get better at it.
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Cite this video
Dr Lee Hudson. “The MAP study: understanding and improving mental health admissions to paediatric wards.” The Paediatric Video Journal, 4 July 2025. https://paediatricvj.com/videos/the-map-study-understanding-and-improving-mental-health-hudson/
This interview is educational content intended for healthcare professionals and is not medical advice. Views expressed are those of the speaker. © The Paediatric Video Journal. All rights reserved.