Mental health treatment targets missed as 2,130 people wait over a year
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today said Scotland needs world class mental health services after new figures showed the mental health waiting times targets being missed yet again for children and adults.
The Public Health Scotland data shows:
- 89.1% of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS.
- Just 80.0% of adults were seen within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies.
- 4,231 children and young people and 24,145 adults were waiting for treatment at the quarter ending September 2024.
- 151 children and young people and 1,979 adults waited, or are still waiting, more than a year to start treatment.
Mental health funding was frozen for the third year in a row in the Scottish budget last December. When combined with in-year funding cuts and inflation, this adds up to more than £80m of real-term cuts to the mental health budget.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said:
“The SNP’s failed NHS Recovery Plan promised to clear mental health waiting lists by March 2023. Nearly two years on and these statistics still show more than 2,000 children and adults waiting over a year for the help they need. Nobody should ever have to endure that.
“The SNP have repeatedly raided tens of millions from the mental health budget which has added to the agony of everyone waiting an age to be seen.
“Scotland needs world-class mental health services. By investing in driving down mental health waiting times, we can help people get back to work and make the most of their education.
“The SNP haven’t met the waiting time targets once in the 10 years since they were introduced. It’s time to put an end to their decade of failure.”