A coalition of independent and third sector children and young people’s service providers has called for urgent action from the Scottish Government to increase investment in and radically improve mental health services for children and young people.
The call from the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) comes following the publication yesterday of new NHS Scotland figures which highlights that only half of Scotland’s Health Boards – seven out of 14 – are meeting mental health waiting time targets.
The NHS in Scotland provides mental health services for children and young people with a wide range of mental health problems including anxiety, behaviour problems, depression and early onset psychosis. Half of all diagnosable mental health problems start before the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 21.
The SCSC has called for greater investment in CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services), as well as a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention. This includes greater in-school counselling and on-demand counselling services in GP surgeries.
The coalition has also called for Action Plans to be put in place for those health boards failing to achieve waiting time targets, with its ultimate aim that those children and young people requiring it should get the help they need, when they need it.
The Scottish Government set a target for the NHS in Scotland to deliver a maximum waiting time of 18 weeks from December 2014. The target should be delivered for at least 90% of patients, but the latest figures indicate that for the 14 Health Boards as a whole 77.6% of children and young people are being seen within this – 18% short of the 90% set by the Scottish Government.
Seven of the 14 Health Boards failing to achieve the 18 week waiting time target are NHS Borders (85.6%), NHS Fife (87.7%), NHS Forth Valley (28.0%), NHS Grampian (41.0%), NHS Lothian (57.4%), NHS Lanarkshire (88.9%) and NHS Shetland (22.7%)
This comes on the back of evidence that only 0.46% of NHS Scotland’s expenditure is spent on child and adolescent mental health.
The SCSC has highlighted that if health boards increase expenditure on CAMHS this will not only cut waiting times, ensuring the early diagnosis and treatment of those children and young people with mental health problems, but also address social and economic costs of failing to address these.
These costs are well-established. This is because those affected are more likely, for example, to be unemployed, homeless, get caught up in the criminal justice system, or are in extremely costly long-term care. In many cases this can be prevented through early intervention.
A spokesperson for the SCSC said: “These statistics, which highlight that half our health boards are failing to meet waiting time targets, should act as a wake-up call to the Scottish Government as it consults on its new Mental Health Strategy.
“We know that half of all diagnosable mental health problems start before the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 21. As such it is vitally important that we radically improve mental health services and increase investment in these, with an overall aim of ensuring that children and young people get the help they need, when they need it.
“We need to look at preventing such problems arising in the first place and intervene early to ensure that these young people are able to realise their full potential. Many children are identified as having poor mental health and Scotland has some catching up to do in terms of ensuring that child and adolescent mental health is viewed in the same way as physical health.
““As a coalition we are delighted that the Scottish Government has committed an additional £150 million in mental health services over the next five years, and that this is to be partly used to bring down child and adolescent mental health waiting times.
“We would however urge the new Scottish Government and Mental Health Minister to act quickly and increase investment from the current figure of less than 0.5 per cent of the NHS budget. This will ensure that those requiring it are given the support they need, so that those children and young people requiring these services do not miss out.
“Families usually experience months of waiting even before a referral to CAMHS. The consequent delay in diagnosis and appropriate support can lead to a crisis situation for the child or young person concerned, as well as for their family, and the need for costly extra resources to address this.”
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