Nearly 18,000 cases for child mental health support rejected sine December 2014
Almost 18,000 referrals for child and adolescent mental health treatment have been rejected since the SNP government established an 18 week waiting time target for treatment, new research from Labour reveals.
The Scottish Government set a standard for the NHS in Scotland to deliver a maximum wait of 18 weeks from December 2014. Since then 17,843 referrals have been rejected.
There is a lack of understanding of what happens to these cases, why they are rejected and what happens next to the children
In March 2017 the SNP government finally gave in following years of Labour pressure and commissioned an audit of rejected referrals. However, there has been a lack of clarity since then of what progress that audit is making, or if it has even started.
Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health, Anas Sarwar said: 'Thousands of vulnerable young people are being denied the help they need. The vast majority of these referrals will be from health professionals and it raises questions about whether our NHS is getting the resources it need to cope with demand.
'Labour pushed the SNP government for years to review the system, to find answers as to why some children are being denied help and what happens to them next, but ministers have been dragging their heels ever since.
'If these numbers were replicated in acute services it would be seen as a national scandal, thousands of children and young people are being denied mental health treatment and the SNP government has shown no urgency in finding out why.
'That isn’t treating mental health and physical health with parity of esteem - it’s failing vulnerable young people.'