All but one mainland NHS board had patients who have been waiting more than 12 months for treatment by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as of autumn last year, according to data released under freedom of information legislation.

NHS Lothian was the worst performing board when it came to numbers on a waiting list for a long time, with a total of 670 CAMHS patients waiting more than a year for treatment by November last year.

The 18-week referral to treatment time targets have not been met for children’s services since they were introduced in 2014.

Meanwhile NHS Highland recorded the single longest wait, with one young person having been on a list for more than three years.

The information was compiled by the Scottish Liberal Democrats using freedom of information requests.

It shows that all but one mainland board that provided data had patients waiting more than a year.

Numbers vary significantly, with fewer than five patients waiting more than a year in NHS Grampian but 670 in Lothian and another 570 in Highland. NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s longest waiting patient was 77 days, while NHS Borders did not provide data.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said services had been “badly neglected”.

"At a critical moment in their life children are waiting years for help. Staff are working around the clock but they've never had the support, resources or early interventions,” he said.

The party is calling for new walk-in crisis centres, further investment in staff training and promising to ‘abolish’ rejected referrals.

Professor Alex McMahon, Nurse Director at NHS Lothian, said: "Waiting times for our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services have been longer than they should be, and before the start of the covid-19 pandemic we were working hard to reduce them.

"National lockdowns and covid-19 restrictions have unfortunately led to longer waiting times than before.

"We would reassure patients and their families that we are redesigning processes, continually increasing our clinical capacity and developing new ways of working, such as providing both virtual and face-to-face treatment options to increase the number of available appointments.”

Dr Helen Smith, of Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, has previously warned that CAMHS services are struggling to cope and will not be able to meet rising demand without a significant funding boost.

A survey by the College found eight in ten psychiatrists working with children think services are ‘not up to standard’.

A spokesperson for NHS Highland said: “During the initial lockdown CAMHS reverted to an unscheduled care service. However, since September 2020 the team have been delivering outpatient appointments, while continuing provision for emergency appointments and a duty system in place, Monday to Friday 9-5.

“This provides telephone assistance to professionals seeking support and advice. Further information is available to families and professionals on the CAMHS website of at www.mind.org.uk and more recently a Facebook page has been set up in north Highland. 

“Our ultimate aim would however be to see children/young adults in a timely manner to provide early intervention and NHS Highland is committed to exploring ways to increase capacity to meet demand and earlier access to CAMHS.”

Read more: ‘Largest ever’ mental health funding boost is one off; Plea over funding as year long CAMHS waits surge

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