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 political consensus in tackling the current mental health emergency.
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 political consensus in tackling the current mental health emergency.
The call comes as the latest waiting time figures from Public Health Scotland highlight that 469 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the quarter ending March 2023.
Just 74.2% of patients with mental health problems were seen for seen within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS, with more than a quarter waiting longer than this time. This falls short of the Scottish Government’s waiting time target of 90 per cent being seen within 18 weeks.
Figures also show that as many as 7,701 children and young people were still stuck on waiting lists to start treatment at the end of the quarter ending March 2023, an increase of 138 on the previous quarter ending December 2022.