Waiting time performance for child mental health services has passed the 90% target for the first time new figures from Public Health Scotland has revealed.
In the final quarter of 2024, figures showed 90.6% of patients were seen within 18 weeks of referral.
This was an increase from 89.1% for the previous quarter and from 83.8% for the same quarter ending December 2023.
But the data also reveals that for the three months to December last year there was a slight increase in the overall number of young people waiting to start treatment.
That figure of 4,362 was up by 3.1% (131) compared to 4,231 in the previous quarter.In total, 8,919 children and young people were referred to CAMHS in Scotland. Of those, 3,812 started treatment.
That was up by 0.3% from 3,801 in the previous quarter, and down by 15.9% from 4,531 in the same period at the end of 2023.
Half of the children and young people started treatment within four weeks of referral, which was down from six weeks in both the previous quarter and the corresponding 2023 figure.
Currently there is no national data to show how many children are waiting for neurodivergence assessments instead of waiting to see a CAMHS specialist.
Dr Kandarp Joshi, chair of the CAMHS Faculty, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said: “It’s welcome news the waiting times standard has been met – but ministers cannot assume the job is now done.
“Alarmingly, waiting times may be even higher because the Scottish Government don’t report on the wait after a young person’s first assessment. They also don’t take into the account the waiting times for neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism or ADHD - which are also on the rise.
“Working on the frontline we see a postcode lottery of specialist mental health services across the country, but our vulnerable children and young people deserve so much better than this.
“Targets are missed but what we need is ringfenced funding and resources ploughed in at local level.
“The Scottish Government must keep their own promise to commit 10% of the total NHS spend towards mental health and 1% for CAMHS, because young people with severe and complex mental health conditions - need investment more than ever.”
For further information, please contact:
- Email: laura.varney@rcpsych.ac.uk
- Contact Name: Senior Media Officer (Devolved Nations) Laura Varney