Abstract
General medicine teams are the largest admitting services in our adult hospitals. However, their limitations in terms of capacity, design and resourcing are well documented. Eating disorders are complex mental health disorders, but when severe they need stabilisation on medical wards. Local guidelines in Wellington currently consider anyone over the age of 16 an adult, yet data show the paediatric hospital to have greater capacity than the adult hospital, which is frequently bed blocked. The paediatric service also has single room design and an eating disorders nurse. We encourage our paediatric colleagues to introduce flexibility into their definitions-in the same way geriatrics does-to better meet the needs of this vulnerable group of young people.