Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Extra cash for child mental health waits
CHILD mental health services in Tayside, Fife and Highland have been given a share of £4.25m to tackle waiting times.
They were among seven areas getting the “enhanced support”.
Figures for the last quarter of 2021 show 70% of young people were seen in the target time, down from 78% in the previous quarter.
Figures included more than 300 waiting longer than a year.
The Scottish Government aims for 90% of young people to start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
NHS Tayside and NHS Grampian were among only a handful of boards to meet the 90% target, recording rates of 93% and 95% respectively.
Tayside had been under 90% in the three preceding quarters, however, and the majority of other board areas remained significantly below the target.
In Highland, the data also showed that more than 11% of its referrals, or 27 people, had been waiting more than a year.
Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “NHS Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside have all been receiving enhanced support to meet the waiting times standard and eliminate long waits by end March 2023.”
Mr Stewart said £40m had been allocated to NHS boards to improve CAMHS from the government’s £120m mental health recovery and renewal fund, which includes £4.25m for treatment of those already on CAMHS waiting lists.
Scottish Conservative public health spokeswoman Tess White said: “This funding won’t nearly be enough to help a generation of youngsters suffering from mental health issues who have repeatedly been failed by this SNP government.
“Funding must be increased to ensure young people who need treatment and support receive it as quickly as possible.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: “We work closely with the Scottish Government’s mental health quality and safety team, which supports the CAMHS team, to implement a range of improvement plans.
“The government team also recognises and shares good practice from NHS Tayside with CAMHS teams in other health boards. We are working to improve waiting times and additional nursing and allied health professional staff have recently been recruited.”
Rona Laskowski, head of critical care services at Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, said Fife continued to benefit from support provided through the Scottish Government’s CAMHS adviser.
NHS Highland said the recovery and renewal fund has allocated considerable funding to improve services.