Continued progress on child mental health waiting times

3rd June 2025

The national standard on waiting times for children and young people accessing mental health services has been met for the second quarter in row.

Latest Public Health statistics show 91.6% of those referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) were seen within 18 weeks from January to March - the Scottish Government standard is 90%.

The figure is an increase from 90.6% for the previous quarter and from 86% for the same quarter in 2024.

Visiting the CAMHS service in NHS Forth Valley to thank staff for their dedication, Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said:

"We want all children and young people to be able to access appropriate mental health treatment as and when they need to, and this continued progress on waiting times is testament to the hard-working staff who care for those referred to these services.

"We have exceeded our promise to provide funding for 320 additional staff for CAMHS by 2026 and this will no doubt have contributed to the improvements we are seeing but I am well aware there is still much to be done if this is to be sustained and consistent across Scotland.

“However, we are on the right path and the £123.5 million we have allocated to NHS Boards this year will mean the quality and delivery of all mental health services - including CAMHS - will continue to improve."

Lesley Dunabie, Department Manager & Head of Nursing for NHS Forth Valley CAMHS, said:

“We are delighted that the changes introduced by local staff over the last 18 months have made such a positive impact to our waiting times and significantly improved the services and support available for children and young people with serious mental illness.

“We are committed to building on this by continuing to develop and improve local services for children and young people and working with a wide range of partners to help increase access to support in local schools and communities at an earlier stage."

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 £15m per annum funding into local authority budgets from 2025-26.

The National CAMHS specification is clear that children and young people whose referral is not accepted are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service, such as those provided within community.