The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Youngsters’ long wait for mental health treatment
Only around 34% of under-18s were seen in target time, latest statistics for Tayside have shown
Two-thirds of young people in Tayside are being forced to wait more than four months for mental health treatment, new figures have revealed.
Official statistics released yesterday show the average wait for under-18s referred for support in Angus, Dundee and Perthshire was 25 weeks.
Child mental health waiting times were the worst on record across Scotland as a whole between April and June.
Only 67.8% of the 4,664 children and young people who started their treatment during the three-month period did so within the Scottish Government’s 18-week waiting time target.
The figure compares with 71.1% in the previous quarter and 80.7% for the same quarter in 2017. It is the worst on record since the target was set in 2014.
The figures were much worse in Tayside, with 65.6% of children enduring a wait of more than 18 weeks. This is despite the health board having the second highest staffing level in the country, with 98.2 whole time equivalent workers per 100,000 under-18s in the area.
Two years ago, 97% of local children and teenagers were seen within the national target time.
Ministers said the standard should be delivered for at least 90% of patients. Fife’s performance figure yesterday was 70.2%.
SNP Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey said: “Too many children and young people are experiencing waits that are too long and this is completely unacceptable.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that £60 million will be made available to pay for 350 counsellors and 250 school nurses, meaning every secondary school in Scotland will be able to provide counselling for students.
However, Conservative North East Scotland MSP Bill Bowman said mental health treatment was now “at a crisis point” in Tayside.
“
Too many children and young people are experiencing waits that are too long. MENTAL HEALTH MINISTER CLARE HAUGHEY
He said: “Patients and their families cannot afford to wait for months on end for treatment.”
Separate statistics show 76.3% of adult patients waiting for psychological therapies were seen within 18 weeks between April and June – down slightly from 78.4% in the previous quarter.
Tayside had the second worst figure in the country, 61.5%, while Fife’s figure was 66.2%.
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said the board was facing a shortage of qualified staff in a number of psychological specialities, including consultant posts in the Children Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), in common with other health boards across Scotland.
“Regrettably, this has meant a longer wait for some patients,” the spokeswoman said. “However, patients should be reassured that all urgent referrals to the CAMHS service are reviewed within five days.
“We continue to actively recruit to a number of posts within the psychological services in our efforts to reduce patient waiting times.”
She added that a “significant redesign” of services was under way, with the aim of improving patient access and supporting the development of the Tayside Mental Health Strategy for children and young people.
The revamp includes the creation of a new one-stop clinic to help young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Tayside get the medication they need.