The majority of the country's health boards missed targets to provide children with specialist support - which has angered a campaign group
Waiting times for children to receive specialist mental health treatment have been described as a "national disgrace".
Latest figures have shown that three in 10 youngsters wait more than 18 weeks for treatment.
Eleven out of the country’s 14 health boards failed to meet the 18-week waiting time target from January to April, and 35 children had waited more than a year to be seen by a doctor.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition has highlighted that only 0.48% of the NHS budget is spent on specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and called for urgent action to improve treatment for young people.
“These latest waiting time figures demonstrate that we are continuing to fail many of our children and young people with mental health problems, a national disgrace,” a spokesman said.
“No longer can mental health be viewed as a Cinderella service and we must put money behind the rhetoric if we are to just keep pace with investment south of the border.
“It is clearly disappointing to note these newly released figures highlighting that the NHS in Scotland, including 11 of our health boards, are failing to meet what is already a lengthy waiting time. This is no coincidence given that a very small proportion of the overall NHS and mental health budget is being spent on addressing the needs of children and young people, and yet we know that three children in every classroom has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem.”
Mental health minister Maureen Watt said the government is working with health boards to recruit more specialists and had increase CAMHS staffing by 69%.
“While the average wait for treatment is ten weeks, many boards must improve their performance and I will continue to meet with those boards which fall short of our expectations,” she said.
“Our mental health strategy is investing £150 million into services over five years and to help reshape how services are delivered to the benefit of patients.
“Today’s figures make clear that where provision is embedded in the community, and working closely with the specialist services, that we see the best results. To build on this we’re working with partners, like COSLA, to help improve this community based provision for consistent care across the country.”
Alison Johnstone MSP, the Scottish Greens’ health spokesperson, says the figures should convince government ministers to look beyond the NHS and include mental health awareness in the school curriculum.
She said: “The fact that so many young people in Scotland have to struggle through mental health problems with little support or care, shows we’re letting them down. What’s worse is that those who have already taken the brave step by being diagnosed are not receiving the support they need on the NHS.
“How can we improve education outcomes when significant barriers to essential health services for our young people exist?”
