CAMPAIGNERS have criticised cut to services at Scotland's national hospital unit for children and teenagers suffering severe mental health problems.

The child inpatient psychiatric service was established at Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, in 2006 to provide intensive support for young people with complex conditions such as autistic-spectrum type disorders, psychosis, anxiety disorders, severe eating disorders and severe obsessive compulsive disorders.

However the number of available beds in the unit, which treats patients under 12, has been reduced from nine to six after it has been moved from its current base at Yorkhill's Caledonia House to the new South Glasgow University hospital.

A recent review of the service, which is run by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) last year, show there have been 10 to 15 inpatient admissions in each of the past three years, with the length of stay ranging from two to 88 weeks. The service has also had between 270 to 465 annual day patient attendances over that time.

It offers a variety of help such as 'talking' therapies for conditions such as anxiety, management of medication for complex and rare psychiatric disorders, speech and language therapy and counselling for parents.

NHS officials say there will be sufficient beds to meet demand based on previous years, but campaigners have raised concerns over the move amid rising demand for mental health services for young people.

Sophie Pilgrim, member of the Scottish Children's Services Coalition (SCSC) and director of Kindred Scotland, a voluntary organisation supporting parents and carers, said: "Given the current demand for child and adolescent mental health services in Scotland, we are alarmed by the proposed reduction in bed numbers for those children who require intensive support and treatment, from nine to six.

"In addition to this there are only 42 inpatient beds (for children and adolescents) in all of Scotland, well below those number recommended the Royal College of Psychiatrists."

Pilgrim raised concerns about the number of children and young people already being admitted to non-specialist units, such as adult and paediatric wards, and said the NSS review acknowledged the complexity and severity of the illnesses is an increasing trend.

She added: "Couple this with the fact that child and adolescent mental health services have seen a 35% increase in referrals over the last 2 years, reducing existing bed capacity is simply not a viable option.

"Young people experiencing mental health problems, and indeed the families who support them are among the most vulnerable in our society. Surely then, we should be looking at what more can be done in order to help ensure that these vulnerable young people, often living with great distress, are getting the support that they need?"

A source told the Sunday Herald there were also concerns for the future of the unit in the long-term as will no longer admit day patients, with this service remaining at Caledonia House.

The source added: "There are concerns that this could ultimately lead to closing of the only dedicated mental health inpatient unit for children aged under 12 in Scotland."

In March a survey carried out by the Royal College of Psychiatrists highlighted concerns over difficulty in accessing specialist beds for children and adolescents with mental health problems across the UK. It also found there was an increase in young people with increasingly complex needs, particularly eating disorders and recurrent self-harm.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) said NSS commissioned the inpatient service and determined the number of beds available.

She added: "We remain committed to offering a local child psychiatry day service for NHS GGC residents and this will be delivered at Caledonia House.

"It was never planned that this local day service would be provided at the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children - it has been and will be based in Caledonia House."

A spokesman for NSS said: "We commission NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide a highly specialised inpatient child psychiatry service which can be accessed by all Scottish patients.

"This inpatient service has recently transferred to the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow from Caledonia House.

"As part of our regular re-commissioning process we reviewed the service during 2014. In view of low occupancy and activity over a number of years, the key recommendation of this review was a reduction in inpatient bed provision for Scotland, from nine beds to six. This was subsequently agreed by all NHS Scotland chief executives.

"We are fully confident that the new inpatient bed model will cater fully for the projected levels of occupancy based on previous years' activity."