Young people waiting up to three years for mental health support
The Scottish Conservative party is accusing the Government of "betraying" young patients
Last updated 11th Jan 2024
The Scottish Conservative party is accusing the Government of "betraying" young mental health patients after figures revealed some are waiting up to three years to see a specialist.
The Tories obtained statistics using freedom of information legislation which revealed one patient in NHS Highland had waited 150 weeks for their first Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services appointment by the middle of 2023.
An NHS Tayside patient waited 111 weeks, and a patient in the Ayrshire and Arran health board area waited 91 weeks.
One NHS Lothian patient waited two years between CAMHS appointments.
First Minister "owes young mental health patients an apology"
Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: "The pandemic has worsened Scotland's mental health crisis, particularly among young people, and waits of up to three years at a crucial time in their development are intolerable and life-threatening for those who are suicidal or in despair.
"CAMHS practitioners are doing all they can to match the enormous demand for their services - but they are completely overwhelmed.
"As with all areas of Scotland's NHS, the capacity problems stem from dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries.
"Humza Yousaf owes young mental health patients an apology for the dismal failure of his Covid recovery plan to clear CAMHS waiting times by March 2023.
"But the SNP's failure predates the pandemic - they have never met their target for 90% of children and young people to start treatment within 18 weeks of referral since its introduction in 2014."
Numbers "still way off" government's own targets
Dr Kandarp Joshi, chair of CAMHS at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said the figures came as "no surprise".
He said: "It's quite unbelievable that the numbers are still way off the Scottish Government's own targets.
"Our vulnerable children and young people deserve so much better than this.
"While we welcomed investment through the Mental Health and Renewal Fund, funding in real terms will have gone down due to inflation and ministers cannot assume that the job is now done.
"Spending in mental health support services at all levels needs to be sustained and planned to enable services across the country to meet the increasing demand.
"Again, we call on the Scottish Government to increase spending and keep their own promises of 10% of the total NHS spend going towards mental health and 1% for CAMHS."
He added a £30 million cut to services in the Scottish Budget must be "immediately restored", warning the "toll on the mental health needs of our children and young people simply cannot be ignored".
Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said: "Long waiting times such as this are unacceptable - it is vital that all children and young people receive the right support, at the right time.
"The latest figures show that we continue to see significant and sustained progress on CAMHS waiting times - 13 out of 14 boards have now effectively eliminated long waits.
"However, performance still varies across health boards and we are not complacent. We remain committed to supporting all boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral and continue to direct tailored support to those boards with the longest waits, including NHS Highland.
"More than £1.3 billion will support mental health services, with £290.2 million direct investment - more than doubled since 2020/21 - enabling record numbers of staff to provide more varied support and services to a larger number of people than ever before.
"CAMHS services are supported by both budgets, with boards determining levels of funding at a local level."
An NHS Highland spokesperson said: "With support from Scottish Government, including significant additional funding to increase our clinical workforce, NHS Highland CAMHS has been working hard over the autumn and winter period to implement our improvement plan, with additional staff recruited and extra clinical appointments delivered.
"We have reduced significantly the longest waits, but still have work to do to achieve the standard deserved by our children and families across the Highlands.
"One in two children referred to the service are seen within 9 weeks of referral.
"Further recruitment of clinicians to the service is underway and with other service re-design measures we are predicting further significant improvements in reduced waiting times and access to services."