CAMHS - Galaxy House - Royal Manchester Children's Hospital

Galaxy House is an expanding service that treats young people with demanding physical and emotional issues. The service supports young people up to the age of eighteen years. It forms part of the wider CAMHS SCU and is the only inpatient service, with twelve inpatient beds.

Galaxy House helps young people with a range of difficulties including eating disorders, Pervasive Arousal Withdrawal Syndrome, OCD and Psychosis as well as managing associated behaviours such as self-harm. Our young people are often long-term patients with admissions being anywhere between three months and two years depending on treatment plans. We work closely with families and outside agencies to enable young people to be discharged from hospital with the support to live their lives.

Galaxy House is accredited both with the Quality Network for Inpatient CAMHS (QNIC) and the Quality Network for Eating Disorders (QED) under the auspices of the Royal College of Psychiatry. It is staffed by multi-disciplinary team comprising of

Nursing (qualified mental health children’s nurses and nursing assistants)
Psychologists
Occupational Therapists
Psychotherapist
Systemic Therapist
Dietitians
Physiotherapists
Psychiatrists
Teachers
Teaching Assistants

In addition to its 12 beds (all single rooms with 2 en-suite) Galaxy House has living, dining, therapy and outdoor space. It also has its own school provided across 3 classrooms within the Building, which provides National Curriculum education from 9.30am to 3.15pm each weekday by staff from Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital School.

Referral process

Referrals are accepted from local CAMHS teams on the “NHS England Form 1”, and should be sent to: Melanie.Burgoyne-Frankland@mft.nhs.uk

For Greater Manchester referrals, referring teams must contact Galaxy House by phone (0161 701 5026) to discuss and be in touch with the GMAIC service (0161 716 2659) to assess for suitability.

If the referral is out of area, then the relevant local NHSE/I Case Manager or LPC practitioner’s approval must be sought and clearly documented in the Section 16 of the NHS England Form 1. In addition, consent from the young person/person with parental responsibility must be clearly recorded.

Please note that we are not a General Adolescent Inpatient CAMHS service (GAU).

What conditions do we treat?

Galaxy House treats children and young people with

Severe Eating Disorders
Pervasive Arousal Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)/Severe Psychosomatic conditions
Children up to the age of 13 with Neurodevelopmental difficulties and/or any mental health problem severe enough to require specialist in-patient assessment and treatment (e.g. early onset psychosis, obsessive – compulsive disorder, depression).

What treatments do we offer?

Galaxy House provides the following treatments

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT)

Behavioural Therapy

Family Therapy (various models)

Psychotherapy

Pharmacological Treatment

Where will my child receive treatment?

Treatment is provided within Galaxy House. When clinically indicated assessments may be undertaken at home prior to admission and in preparation for discharge.