Aquarius is a regional short stay open inpatient unit with twelve beds for young people aged 12-17 during a period of acute mental health crisis. The ward provides daily 24-hour medical and nursing care for urgent or planned admissions.
Aquarius is staffed by a multidisciplinary team which assess, and then reduce and manage the risk to the young person while in their care. The team comprises child psychiatrists, clinical psychologist, occupational therapist, social workers, mental health nurses, teachers and administrative staff.
The progress of each young person is regularly reviewed by members of the multidisciplinary team, who also provide liaison with the referring CAMHS team, community and local resources. They work in collaboration with referring teams to help the young person move back to an appropriate community setting as soon as possible.
Education is an integral component and inpatients are encouraged to attend school on a daily basis, providing they are well enough. Pupils who are not well enough, or not able to manage in the classroom environment will be taught on the ward by one of our teaching staff or special needs trained higher level teaching assistants.
The education team are highly specialist teachers and specially trained Higher Level Teaching Assistants who are able to teach a wide range of subjects across KS3, KS4 and KS5. When appropriate, education staff will liaise with the pupil’s home school, ensuring continuity of education and supporting them to prepare for GCSE’s or A Level examinations or any other external accreditations.
The school is a registered examination centre and pupils who are an inpatient during their exams will be able to sit exams in the CAMHS Campus School.
