Warning as 2,000 kids wait more than a year for mental health help
NEARLY 2,000 children have waited more than a year for mental health treatment, figures show.
Waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) include almost 12,000 youngsters who need support.
Of these, almost half have been left waiting longer than the Scottish Government’s target of 18 weeks, says Scottish Labour, and about 1,700 have waited more than a year.
Scottish Labour made fresh calls for urgent action to improve services on World Mental Health Day.
The party’s mental health spokesman, Carol Mochan, warned yesterday that there is ‘a growing emergency’.
She added: ‘Services are stretched to breaking point, with children languishing on record waiting lists and patients routinely waiting more than a year for treatment.
‘The full effect of the pandemic on mental health remains to be seen – but we are creating a timebomb if we don’t act now.
‘After the trauma of the last year-anda-half, the least we owe people is reliable mental health support.’
There are also more than 22,000 adults waiting for psychological therapies.
Of these, almost 40 per cent have waited more than 18 weeks, with a fur
‘Stretched to breaking point’
ther 3,880 waiting more than a year. It comes as the Scottish Liberal Democrats published figures showing more than 40,000 phone calls for the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub were abandoned.
Between July 2020 and June 2021, 129,000 phone calls were made to the helpline but 40,424 – nearly a third – failed.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex ColeHamilton said: ‘I don’t think anyone among us would say that the last 18 months have been easy.
‘The pandemic has imposed an enormous mental burden on people who may have already been struggling.
‘Unfortunately, these figures show that many of those who reached out for help didn’t get it.
‘They join the many others who have already been let down by the dearth of mental health support. We must do better.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to meeting the standard that 90 per cent of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral.
‘That is why over £40million has been allocated to support CAMHS improvement this year.
‘This is part of our additional £120million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund.
‘This funding will lead to substantial improvements in mental health care.’
In March, a survey warned that children’s lives were being ‘wrecked by lockdown’.
Almost 300 adults took part, with parents group UsForThem reporting that three-quarters of children had become ‘distressed and tearful’, while two in three were ‘argumentative and angry’. Some 38 per cent had developed a sleep disorder, while 14 per cent had an eating disorder.
Just less than 15 per cent of parents said their children had spoken about or described selfharm, while 7 per cent had selfharmed. Last month, Victim Support Scotland said the Covid court backlog has led to soaring numbers of victims and witnesses experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Most criminal trials were put on hold during the second lockdown this year, with such hearings cut by up to 75 per cent.
Meanwhile, fears have been raised over the safety of vulnerable children after the number of at-risk youngsters referred to protection agencies plummeted during lockdown.
Charities warn that thousands of youngsters may have endured abuse or neglect because they dropped off the radar of support services when schools closed.
Referrals to child protection services fell during lockdown in most Scottish council areas and by more than a quarter in some.
The biggest fall was in Renfrewshire, where referrals to children’s services slumped 29 per cent, from 10,508 to 7,466 between 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Lynn Bell, a member of the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition and chief executive of charity Love Learning, said she would pressure the Government for resources.
She said: ‘There’s potentially a whole generation of children and young people who are being traumatised and that is simply not acceptable.’
‘Generation being traumatised’