Now Reading: Waiting times standard met for the third time in row
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Waiting times standard met for the third time in row
Ongoing improvements to children and young people’s mental health services.
For the third consecutive quarter in a row, there has been continued progress on waiting times for children and young people’s mental health care.
From April to June this year, 91.8% of those referred to CAMHS were seen within 18 weeks, according to the latest statistics from Public Health Scotland. This is a slight increase from 91.6% in the previous quarter, and above the national standard of 90%.
I welcome the continued progress in these services – staff across Scotland are working hard to ensure children and young people are getting the support they need when they need it, and I am grateful for their continued dedication.
MENTAL WELLBEING MINISTER TOM ARTHUR
We have exceeded our promise to provide funding for 320 additional staff for CAMHS by 2026, and this will have contributed to the improvements we are seeing.
However, I am aware there is still more to do to ensure standards are consistent across the country and we are supporting all NHS Boards to meet the standard and continue development in the delivery of CAMHS and all mental health services.
Background
The national CAMHS standard was set in 2014.
CAMHS is only the right service for a small proportion of children and young people. To provide an alternative, the Scottish Government provided targeted investment of over £65 million in community-based mental health support, between 2020 and 2024-25, and a £16 million annual spend on school counselling services in addition to this. Our investment in community-based support will continue with the baselining of the £15 million per annum funding into local authority budgets from 2025-26.
