NHS chiefs still have no concrete plans for a new unit in the Bristol area
06:00, 03 Aug 2026
The now-closed Riverside Tier 4 mental health unit for young people at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, which was closed in early 2024 after the death of in-patient Lucy Curtis (inset)(Image: Curtis family/Bristol Post)
Scores of the most seriously mentally unwell teenagers from the Bristol and Bath area are being sent to hospital as far away as Bodmin in Cornwall – because health chiefs had to close an unsafe mental health unit here and have failed to reopen it or create a new one.
And now the parents of the teenage girl whose death sparked the Bristol unit’s closure more than two and a half years ago have called for urgent action from the Government and regional health chiefs to end the scandal.
Bristol Live can reveal that, according to figures released by health chiefs, 63 young people from the Bristol and Bath area who needed to be admitted to a mental health unit were sent to others in the south west – in Bournemouth, Plymouth and Bodmin in Cornwall. Three more were sent to units out of the south west region.
That means the families of those young people face a five hour, 270-mile round trip to visit them if they are sent to Bodmin, and a similar five hour, 150 mile round trip to get to and from the unit in Bournemouth.
Bristol’s last in-patient mental health unit – known as a Tier 4 unit – was called Riverside, and was based within the Frenchay Hospital campus in north Bristol. But it closed suddenly in early 2024 just weeks after the death of a patient there, Lucy Curtis.
The 17-year-old from Almondsbury was found unresponsive in her room at Riverside, and earlier this summer an inquest jury found a variety of failings in her care possibly or probably contributed to her death.
Riverside closed when an urgent review found what was described as an unsafe culture, and although NHS bosses said the closure was a temporary one when it happened in the first weeks of 2024, the unit has still not reopened.
Bosses at the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership, which runs mental health services for children and adults across an area from Swindon to Weston-super-Mare, have now said they are trying to open a new facility.
But, during the inquest process, the clinical director for CAMHS – the children and adolescent mental health service – admitted that they had no concrete plans, hadn’t decided on a site and couldn’t tell the coroner when a Tier 4 unit would be available in the Bristol area.
Riverside Adolescent Unit is based on the Blackberry Hill Hospital site (general site image)(Image: Google Maps)
Lucy Curtis’ parents Barry and Michelle said being close to family and loved ones who are easily able to visit can be vital to recovery for many young people suffering from mental health crises so bad they end up in hospital.
The lack of mental health beds in the Bristol area also puts extra pressure on Bristol’s Royal Hospital for Children, which often can’t discharge young people into the care of AWP.
When Lucy was first admitted to a Tier 4 unit, Riverside was full and she was instead sent to Wessex House in Bridgwater – an 80-mile, hour and a half round trip for her parents to visit every day.
After another review of standards there, Wessex House was itself closed by Somerset NHS later in 2024, in a decision unrelated to Lucy’s time there.
“We were driving up and down to Wessex House every day,” said Lucy’s dad Barry. “Luckily we could do that at the time, but I can’t imagine having to get to Plymouth or Bodmin – that is far harder.
“Considering the size of Bristol, it’s really sad they can’t put systems in place to have a safe Tier 4 hospital unit in Bristol as well,” he added.
Barry and Michelle Curtis(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)
Lucy’s mum Michelle called on the powers-that-be to make the provision of a Tier 4 unit in Bristol an urgent priority.
“It really does surprise us they haven’t managed to have even concrete plans, because at the moment it’s not in the pipeline,” she said. “When you think that Riverside was full and operating at a reduced capacity, that means every one of those places is a family that now has to go so far away to Bodmin, or Plymouth, or Bournemouth,” she added.
“They (health chiefs) know well – everybody knows – that children that need this type of care do a lot better the closer they are to home,” she said.
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) is part of a wider south west region coalition of mental health trusts, called the South West Provider Collaborative – which enables health chiefs to send young people out of their immediate area if there are no beds locally – it was that system that saw Lucy initially treated at Wessex House in Bridgwater.
AWP confirmed to Bristol Live that between the day Riverside closed to the end of March 2026, a total of 63 young people were admitted to other CAMHS inpatient beds commissioned in the south west – in Bournemouth, Plymouth and Bodmin.
Lucy Curtis was 17 when she died on January 1, 2024, following an incident of self-harm at Riverside Adolescent Unit at Blackberry Hill Hospital(Image: Family handout)
Three others were admitted to units outside the south west region – which were either closer to the young person’s family or foster home, or at the request of the young person or their family.
AWP said it and its partners ‘remain fully committed to delivering’ a new Tier 4 unit in the Bristol and Bath area.
“Work is underway to develop a modern, safe, and clinically effective facility that integrates inpatient care with enhanced community-based support,” said a spokesperson for AWP.
“As this progresses, we will be working with young people and the wider community both on the design of the building, and the service model,” he added.
In the meantime, AWP said it has been prioritising community-based resources to try to reduce the number of young people who need to go to a Tier 4 unit as an inpatient in the first place.
Sarah Jones, AWP’s chief nursing officer described these last two and a half years as a ‘period of transition’.
“As we work with partners to design a modern, high‑quality Tier 4 service for the future, we are equally focused on having reliable interim plans in place which include access to care as close to home as possible,” she said.
The Sowenna CAMHS unit, in Bodmin(Image: DCM)
“These plans, developed collaboratively across the system, build on the work we have done over the last 18months, and will help us provide safe, joined‑up, and compassionate care for young people during this period of transition,” she added.
As yet there are no definite plans for a specific new Tier 4 unit in a specific place, and nor is AWP looking to reopen Riverside, which has been described as outdated in terms of its physical lay out.
Other places do have new Tier 4 units in the south west – one recently opened in Bournemouth, and that has been taking seriously ill young people from Bristol.
A spokesperson for the South West Provider Collaborative said: “A transformation plan is in place for Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) across the south west and we are already implementing parts of it.
“We are confident that this will deliver a wide range of benefits and improvements for young people and their families. The plan aligns with the new national specification for services, which is due to be rolled-out next April.
GV of Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust – Bath NHS House, Newbridge Hill, Bath
“We have recently opened the first high intensity inpatient unit for young people in the region. Seastone in Bournemouth will provide far more specialist support for up to eight people with the most serious and complex needs, in a modern, therapeutic environment.
“We are also making enhancements to the general adolescent inpatient units for young people with the most serious needs, including investments in additional staffing, improvements to the physical environment and a greater focus on neurodiversity needs.
“A key development in our plan for the transformation of services is an additional investment of around £4m into higher intensity community services than have been available historically. High intensity community care will wrap around people and their families and support networks – and there will be much closer working between community teams and inpatient services. Nationally and locally, it is recognised that high quality community support is a vital element of the care that is available to young people with the highest levels of need.
“The investment will support care closer to home and reduce the need for admissions to hospital within the region and further afield. We know how stressful it can be for people to travel long distances to see their loved ones and our ultimate objective is that no young person has to travel outside the region for their Tier 4 inpatient care, unless they choose to do so,” he added.