Safe and Appropriate Care Standards Pilot 
The
Royal College of Psychiatrists Research and Training Unit were
commissioned in 2008 to develop a set of standards to identify safe and
appropriate care for young people on adult wards, in preparation for
the new duty to provide an 'age-appropriate environment from April
2010. The standards are aimed at any ward that may on occasion have to
admit a young person under 18 in an emergency, as well as those under
18 for whom such a placement is clinically appropriate.
The standards were developed and piloted in 26 adult wards (some
were members of the AIMS peer review standards system, some were not)
across England. The standards are being implemented within the AIMS accreditation process.
The pilot report highlights areas of concern, particularly in
training and safeguarding, and access to CAMHS support. It makes a
number of recommendations, including
-designating wards in advance
-defined liaison for adult wards from one CAMHS team
-closer joint working by commissioners of AMHS and CAMHS
-workforce development and training
- performance monitoring by SHAs
-monitoring of commissioning and provision of services for under 18s by the CQC