Fife’s most vulnerable children are being failed as they endure “shocking” waits for mental health treatment, it has been claimed.
Almost 60% of the region’s young mental health patients had waited longer than 18 weeks for an appointment with NHS Fife’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) at the end of June, with waiting times the highest they have been in more than a year.
New figures released by Public Health Scotland show 197 Fife youngsters were in breach of the Scottish Government’s waiting time guarantee.
By comparison, 42% of patients in NHS Tayside waited longer than 18 weeks during the same period, while in Grampian the figure was 17.5%.
Across Scotland, almost two thirds of the 10,000 youngsters referred to CAMHS suffered waits of 18 weeks or more – more than double the number waiting in April last year, with hundreds in limbo for more than a year.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a plan was in place to improve children’s mental health services but that it had been disrupted by Covid-19.
Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Liz Smith branded the situation shocking.
“These figures clearly illustrate that the SNP Government took their eye off the ball on mental health long before the outbreak of Covid-19,” she said.
“They are failing some of the most vulnerable children and young people who require urgent mental health support.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the figures were unacceptable and that young people deserved better support.
“Two years ago across Scotland 208 children were waiting over a year,” he said.
“It doubled last year, which the First Minister described as unacceptable. It was the worst it had ever been and that was before the virus hit.
“Now it’s doubled again and there’s no new plan.”
Ms Sturgeon said record sums had been invested in mental health, with record numbers of professionals employed.
“We are also employing school counsellors across our school estate to be more preventative,” she said.
“What we set out last year was a plan of action to reform how we deliver children and adolescent mental health services to rely less on specialist services, to make sure they are there for children who need specialist care but have a more preventative plan of action and approach.
“Inevitably, as so much of our work has suffered, there has been disruption due to Covid.”
NHS Fife said a large number of referrals had been assessed during the pandemic and the waiting time for a first appointment was now two to three weeks.
It said its aim was to ensure children were supported by a wide range of services to reduce the impact on CAMHS.
It is also creating a CAMHS urgent response team to ensure urgent referrals receive timely, short-term intervention.
