New figures show 137 children waiting more for a year for mental health treatment
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of specialist care and education to vulnerable children and young people, is calling for the Scottish Government to renew its focus on tackling the child mental health emergency.
The SCSC has also warned that the Scottish Government is in in danger of missing its Programme for Government commitment to Increase direct investment into mental health by the end of the parliamentary term, noting that only 75p in every £100 is spent on specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
While health is a devolved matter, it has also noted that the General Election provides an ideal opportunity to talk about this crucial matter in Scotland.
The call comes as the latest waiting time figures from Public Health Scotland, published on 4th June, indicate that 137 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment from CAMHS in the quarter ending March 2024.
The figures also show that a total of 5,557 children and young people were still stuck on waiting lists to start treatment at the end of that quarter.
In addition, just 86.0 per cent of patients with mental health problems were seen within 18 weeks from referral to treatment at CAMHS. This falls short of the Scottish Government’s waiting time target of 90 per cent being seen within 18 weeks.
This comes against the background of an increasing level of violent incidents in the classroom, a result in part due to the current mental health emergency, exacerbated by the long shadow of the Covid lockdown and cost-of-living crisis.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, cases of poor mental health in children and young people were at unprecedented levels, with under-resourced services struggling to keep pace with growing demand, leaving an increasing number of vulnerable individuals unable to access support.
The Scottish Government in its NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 committed to Increase direct investment into mental health by the end of the parliamentary term in 2026, ensuring that 10 per cent of the frontline NHS budget is invested in mental health, with 1 per cent directed specifically to children and young people through CAMHS.2
However, it should be noted that despite greatly increased demand, only 0.75% of the total frontline NHS budget was spent on CAMHS in the 2022/23 financial year, amounting to £114.799 million (real terms), just 75p in every £100 of the NHS budget.
The mental health budget overall amounts to only 8.53% of total frontline NHS expenditure, a decrease of 0.59% from 9.12% in the past decade (2011/12).3
The SCSC is calling the Scottish Government to refocus on the treatment of mental health issues, prioritising spending and avoiding a potential lost generation of children and young people with mental health problems.
A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “The latest figures, highlighting that 137 children and young people have been waiting over a year for treatment from mental health services, is extremely alarming.
“We are facing a mental health emergency, and many of our children and young people are at breaking point, with stress and anxiety reaching alarming levels. Despite this, too many are waiting too long for treatment, and if the Scottish Government is to reach its financial commitment to spend 1 per cent of the frontline NHS budget on CAMHS, it will need to radically increase investment.
“While health is a devolved matter, this General Election provides an opportunity to talk about it, and we would urge the Scottish Government to refocus its efforts on delivering services that adequately address the needs of our children and young people.”