A THIRD of children and young people are waiting more than 18 months for specialist mental health treatment, and Covid-19 has made the need for change more urgent, the public spending watchdog has said.

Audit Scotland said serious concerns have existed for years and in 2018 it found complex and fragmented systems which made it difficult for the group to get the support they needed.

A task force set up a year later by the Scottish Government and local authority body Cosla called for reform, with earlier guidance and support needed from GPs, health visitors, school nurses and others to create a more integrated system and reduce the chances that normal mental health difficulties would escalate.

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However, interim controller of audit, Antony Clark, said the picture today is similar to that from three years ago despite significant investment. He said there had been a 7% rise in children and young people waiting more than 18 weeks to start treatment in specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – from 26% in 2017-18 to 33% in 2020-21.

Clark said the Scottish Government’s standard is that at least 90% of children and young people should receive treatment within 18 weeks of being referred to specialist CAMHS. But he said those waiting more than a year for treatment has trebled in the last 12 months – up from 6% in March 2020 to 18% in March 2021.

“That’s a real marker of the pandemic’s impact,” said Clark. “Falling referrals to CAMHS look like the one bright spot – down 17% in a year.

“But this is very likely due to Covid-19 measures such as school closures and limited access to GPs rather than a reduction in demand.”

He said almost one in four (23.5%) referrals to specialist CAMHS were rejected in 2020-21. The Scottish Government had introduced a new £15 million-a-year community mental health and wellbeing framework and guidance on embedding support for mental health in schools.

He added: “A new board jointly chaired by the Scottish Government and Cosla has a role in driving reforms forward. But there is a steep hill to climb and making it to the top will mean listening to and learning from the experiences of children and young people and their families.

“The pandemic and the resulting restrictions have made it more important than ever that children and young people can access the support they need.

“In the meantime, monitoring the effectiveness of mental health services remains a priority for the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission and we are planning to take a closer look at this area in a further performance audit starting next year.”