Children’s charity coalition says mental health system is at “crisis point” as half of NHS health boards miss waiting times targets
Half of Scotland’s health boards are failing to meet waiting time targets for referring children and young people to mental health services a new report shows.
The Information Services Division of National Services Scotland, part of NHS Scotland, report shows only half of the 14 health boards currently achieve the 18-week target which came into force in December 2014.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) said urgent action needs to be taken.
Made up of independent and third sector children and young people’s service providers, the coalition has written to the Scottish Government and repeated its call for urgent action to address a worrying shortage of educational psychologists and psychiatrists being recruited to address children and mental health issues.
A spokesperson for the SCSC said: “As a coalition we were already very alarmed at these waiting time figures from some health boards, which compound our concerns and confirm that many do not have the resources to cope with demand.
We are at a crisis point... that is why we are renewing our plea to the Scottish Government, urging it to act now before this situation gets any worse
“It is those children and young people requiring these services who are missing out, the most vulnerable in our society.
“We are at a crisis point and high level strategic management is required in order to get a grip on the situation. That is why we are renewing our plea to the Scottish Government, urging it to act now before this situation gets any worse.”
The NHS in Scotland provides mental health services for children and young people with a wide range of mental health conditions including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, behaviour problems, depression and early onset psychosis.
The Scottish Government had set a target for the NHS in Scotland to deliver a maximum waiting time of 26 weeks from a patient’s referral to treatment for specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) services from March 2013, reducing to 18 weeks from December 2014. The target should be delivered for at least 90% of patients.
Covering the quarter from October to December 2014, the new figures indicate that for Scotland’s 14 health boards as a whole 86% of people are being seen within the 26-week target dating from March 2013 and 78.9% for the target to be reached by December last year. Both these are failing to reach the 90% set by the Scottish Government.
Nine of the 14 health boards have currently achieved this 26-week waiting time target from March 2013, with the five who haven’t being NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Tayside, NHS Grampian and NHS Lothian.
And only half of the 14 health boards currently achieve the 18-week target which came into force in December 2014.
