The number of children waiting more than a year for mental health support in Fife has hit the highest-level ever recorded, shocking new figures show.
88 youngsters were on the appointment waiting list for at least 12 months as of February this year, which amounts to almost a quarter of all patients referred.
The figure, which is for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), has exploded from under 5% in September to 22.7%.
The problem is mirrored in many areas in Scotland with the national figure also hitting a record high of 18.3%.
Mental health crisis
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) say the national rise is “frightening” and called for more investment in treatment and early intervention.
Fife Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP), which runs CAMHS, say they accept the length of wait is “unacceptable” and are working hard to cut times.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, says urgent action must be taken by the Scottish Government to get CAMHS services back on track.
Ms Baillie said: “Today’s statistics plainly show that CAMHS services are in crisis.
“That over 2,000 young people have waited over a year for vital treatment is nothing short of a scandal.
“We know that the pandemic has had a serious impact on the mental health of our young people – the Scottish Government simply cannot continue to fail them.
“Scottish Labour is committed to delivering the mental health services that the people of Scotland deserve, including bringing mental health funding to the level provided in England and Wales.
She added mental health funding should be brought in line with England and Wales, which both allocated 11% of NHS spending in 2019/20 compared to Scotland’s 8.5%.
‘Appalling’ figures
The picture in Tayside is significantly better than many areas with just one child waiting for more than a year.
Fife and Tayside however are both shy of the Scottish Government’s demand that 90% are seen within 18 weeks with 80.2% and 84.8% respectively for the quarter ending March 2021.
Scottish Conservative Craig Hoy, shadow mental health minister, added they want to see mental health spending increased to 10% of the Scottish health budget.
He said: “These figures are appalling and underline the scale of the mental health crisis engulfing children and young people across Scotland.”
Government concedes waits are ‘unacceptably long’
The Scottish Government says it has allocated over £4 million to address CAMHS waiting lists across the country.
However Kevin Stewart, minister for mental wellbeing, says the issue is a priority for the new Scottish Government, and adds they are looking to tackle it in areas with the longest waiting lists.
He said: “We’re determined to reduce long waits for child and adolescent mental health services.
“That’s why we have allocated over £29m to NHS boards to improve CAMHS, with £4.25m to specifically address waiting lists.
“While it’s welcome that we’re seeing sustained improvement in parts of the country, we want to go further and see that delivered consistently across the country.
“To ensure this we are developing a programme of enhanced support for areas where waits are unacceptably long.”
‘Unprecedented increase’ in referrals
Jim Crichton, divisional general manager of Fife Health & Social Care Partnership said a plan is in place to eradicate the waiting list.
He said: “We acknowledge that the length of wait is unacceptable and that addressing this is a priority for our service.
“We have a plan in place that aims to reduce the waiting list to zero by July 2022 and RTT [Referral to treatment] in line with the target by June 2022.
“This is as a result of an ongoing recruitment drive to increase the service’s capacity to meet the ongoing demand.
“We have recently recruited staff specifically to address the longest waits and this has resulted in appointments being offered to all children and young people who have waited over 52 weeks.”
He added all children who have waited longest “have been assessed as safe to wait”.
This, he said, was either through ongoing contact with the wider support networks or by a thorough direct assessment from the CAMHS primary mental health workers.
Mr Crichton added: “The unprecedented increase in children and young people who have required urgent or priory appointments due to severe mental health issues or significant risk has meant that resources have needed to be moved to prioritise this group of young people which has contributed to those with significant, but less urgent needs, having to wait longer.
“The average waiting times for Fife CAMHS remains 11 weeks whilst those with the greatest need are routinely being seen within the same week of referral.”
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