Highland figures on mental health waiting times for children and young people 'should serve as wake-up call'
Conservative candidate Struan Mackie insists new figures on mental health waiting times for children and young people should serve as a wake-up call on the need for more funding.
He said he was alarmed to learn that 214 children and young people in the NHS Highland area had been waiting over a year for mental health treatment as of December 2020. Across Scotland, a total of 1560 children and young people had been waiting more than 12 months.
Councillor Mackie, who represents Thurso and Northwest Caithness on Highland Council, is the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in the Holyrood election.
He warned that lockdown restrictions over the past year had increased the mental health pressures on vulnerable young people and called on the Scottish Government to address the issue urgently.
“It is incredibly alarming to see the vast number of young people who have been waiting over a year for vital mental health treatment in NHS Highland," Councillor Mackie said. “The SNP must address these appalling figures as a matter of urgency.
“Even prior to the pandemic, the SNP was routinely failing to hit mental health waiting-time targets. Enough is enough. They need to use these figures as a wake-up call once and for all in order to get our young people treatment as quickly as possible.
“Too many of them are falling through the cracks as a result of the SNP’s failure to properly fund mental health services. The time for warm words is long gone.
“SNP ministers must outline how they will support health boards, charities and support organisations in tacking mental health waiting times and drive down these shocking figures.”
The Scottish Government said mental health support was already "an absolute priority" before the pandemic.
A spokesperson pointed out that the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published in October, sets out a range of actions to address the impact of Covid-19 – including "the remobilisation and renewal of NHS mental health services".
The Scottish Government's recently announced £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund will take overall spending on mental health in 2021/22 to more than £1.2 billion. The fund "will prioritise work to improve specialist CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services], address long waiting times and clear waiting-list backlogs".
