Government has issued reassurances after serious safety concerns were raised about a decision to transfer treatment of troubled children from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson told the House of Assembly on Friday that health workers were up in arms about the decision to switch care to the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI), a move she called ?scandalous?.

Health Minister Patrice Minors, however, hit back at claims raised by the Opposition that children could be put in danger by mixing in an adult psychiatric environment where drug abusers and sex offenders are treated.

Amid angry exchanges between MPs, she said: ?No children will be treated or exposed to adult clients at any time.? She also said extra security would be put in place in the children?s section.

She said that having a separate unit would only improve service delivery and added that the switch would not put youngsters? ?dignity or self-reliance? in jeopardy.

Earlier, Mrs. Jackson said child service health workers were horrified at the decision and had lobbied the Minister in a bid to reverse the decision, which Mrs. Minors said was taken by the Bermuda Hospitals Board.

The House heard that Child and Adolescent Services (CAS) used to be located at MWI, formerly known as St. Brendan?s, before it was switched in 1991 to the grounds of the Point Finger Road hospital at a specialist child site due to rising numbers.

Now it is set to move back to its former home ? and Mrs. Jackson said that children should not be put in an adult facility where a stigma would be attached. She also claimed it was a breach of their human rights.

?We are putting them in danger and then we lock them up. It?s a bad, bad situation. I almost weep when I think about it.

?This sounds like something from Oliver Twist.?

Pleading with the Minister to take another look at the decision, she continued: ?I?m assuming that this has not been really thought out and someone is going to say, this is really not a good idea.?

In response, Mrs. Minors said she could not let the comments from the Opposition go without response.

She said the demands for the services from children with mental challenges was still rising and more space was needed.

She said MWI intended to keep child services separate from the adult patients and added: ?We must accept that the dynamics and constraints of this country leads us to the decision being made by the Bermuda Hospitals Board.?

The Minister said she knew about concerns of staff, but said she stood by the decision which was taken in the ?best interests of young people?.

She added that planned future expansion at the hospital would improve services for mentally ill patients.

Opposition MP Suzanne Roberts-Holshouser said she could not understand how the Ministry could ?ignore? expert advice and said Mrs. Minors should sit down and listen to their complaints.

?The staff did not want to make this political,? she added, denying suggestions from Premier Alex Scott that she was politicising children. ?But they wanted to be heard.?

It has been reported that the transfer to MAW will take place over the next 12 months.