Thousands of children every year are being denied NHS treatment for mental health problems in Scotland
More than 500 young people every month are being denied mental health services in Scotland, new figures have revealed.
Charities and politicians are now calling for an investigation into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as it was announced 6,931, or around one in five, referrals from GPs were rejected in 2015.
The news comes as MSPs on Scotland’s health and sport committee also heard that a surge in diagnoses for autism and attention defecit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was putting pressure on services.
However, there has also been a doubling in the number of young people under 15 prescribed anti-depressants since 2009.
Mental health charity Penumbra claims a failure to prioritise community services for young people means GPs have little option than to refer them onto CAMHS.
A spokesman said: “This may be why around 20% of referrals to CAMHS are rejected as not appropriate, which in practice means they are not sufficiently ill enough to receive support despite having sought help from a professional for identifiable mental health difficulties.”
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) called for a review to “establish why these referrals are being rejected and to establish consistent criteria across the country.”
In a letter to Scotland’s minister for mental health Maureen Watt, the health committee chair Neil Findlay MSP, also called for an investigation into the problem.
He said: “There is a very significant number of children and young people whose referrals are being rejected, and there is no clear understanding of why that is the case.
“It seems logical to me that we need a thorough investigation.”
Watt said: “Mental health spending has increased substantially under this government and has supported the increase in the mental health workforce to historically high levels”.
CAMHS services are increasingly coming under the spotlight after they have consistently failed to achieve Scottish Government waiting times targets. In September this year, SCSC called for additional resources into CAMHS after it was revealed 14 health boards had missed waiting times targets, leaving young people with serious mental health problems languishing without treatment.
Only 0.46% of NHS Scotland expenditure goes to CAMHS.
