Youngsters waiting too long for mental health support

Nearly two-thirds of Tayside youngsters seeking mental health support are waiting too long to be seen by specialists, an alliance of leading service providers has warned.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) said young people are facing a mental health treatment “postcode lottery” and the latest waiting time figures reveal services “creaking at the seams”.

The group found 10 of Scotland’s 14 regional health boards failed to meet the Scottish Government’s 18-week waiting time target for young people to receive treatment from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Around 64% of youngsters accessing services in Tayside had to wait longer than 18-weeks to be seen by a specialist, the worst record in Scotland, and at least one faced a delay of more than a year.

The average waiting time of 25 weeks was also the highest across all NHS boards in Scotland.

North East MSP Bill Bowman slammed the figures as a “gross failure” of patients.

He said: “Poor workforce planning has created an environment in which NHS staff are desperate to help but they are overwhelmed because there aren’t enough of them. New staff should have been trained years ago.”

A SCSC spokesperson said: “No longer can mental health be viewed as a ‘Cinderella service’.

“We must now put money behind the rhetoric.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We’re investing an additional £250 million into mental health to support measures such as counsellors in every secondary school, improved training for teachers, and more nurses in schools and counsellors in universities and colleges.

“Any young person referred to mental health services should be assessed in the period prior to treatment starting, and we expect health boards to provide appropriate support during that period.”