Young people in the Highlands struggling with mental health 'abandoned' by Scottish Government, says labour MSP
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A HIGHLAND MSP has raised concerns over the conditions of mental health support offered to young people in the region.
According to Public Health Scotland figures, 564 children and young people in the NHS Highland board region were on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting list in December 2022, 57 per cent of whom have already been waiting longer than the target 18 weeks.
Statistics also show that consistently, between October 2021 and December 2022, more than 25 per cent of those waiting for CAMHS in NHS Highland have been waiting for over 53 weeks.
Scottish Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said that children and young people the region have been “abandoned” by the government as the mounting pressure on services is leading to young people being turned away, with Labour’s analysis showing that 21 per cent per cent of referrals in Highland were rejected.
She said: “Children and young people in Highland have been abandoned by the SNP at every turn, from their dire record on education to their failure to support CAMHS.
“Mental health services are at breaking point despite the tireless work of NHS staff, and thousands of children and young people are at risk of falling through the cracks.
“Far too many children and young people in Highland are facing long waits for help, or worse still being turned away altogether.
“The SNP must back Labour’s plans and deliver the action we desperately need to prevent a full-blown mental health crisis unfolding in Highland.”
Across Scotland, 25 children and young people a day have their referral to CAMHS rejected.
In Scotland, almost 30,000 children, young people and adults are currently waiting for mental health treatment.
Scottish Labour members have been calling in parliament to take action, requesting the creation of a new referral system to ensure no young person is rejected for treatment, the provision of a dedicated mental health worker in every GP practice and a mental health A&E department in every health board so that patients can be fast-tracked, and an increase in mental health spending to at least 11 per cent of the NHS budget.
Replying to Mrs Grant's call, a NHS Highland spokesperson said: "With support from Scottish Government, including significant additional funding to increase our clinical workforce, NHS Highland CAMHS has been working hard over the autumn and winter period to implement our improvement plan, with additional staff recruited and extra clinical appointments delivered We have reduced significantly the longest waits but still have work to do to achieve the standard deserved by our children and families across the Highlands. One in two children referred to the service are seen within nine weeks of referral.
" Further recruitment of clinicians to the service is underway and with other service re-design measures we are predicting further significant improvements in reduced waiting times and access to services.
"Referrals made to the service which do not meet the national service specification are recorded as rejected referrals. This is misleading as all referrals to the service are triaged by a senior clinician and if they are not suitable referrals for our service these referrals are signposted to other service provision such as primary mental health, third sector partners as well as being offered access to suitable advice, guidance and information.
"We share the concerns for those children continuing to wait for non-urgent assessments as a consequence of the COVID impact. We will continue to improve our services over the coming year with further recruitment planned whilst recognising the challenges at a UK level around recruitment of clinical staff."
