Our thoughts on the Scottish Government’s meeting of CAMHS targets for the first time

Last month’s Public Health Scotland data release for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times contained a welcome first: the meeting of the national CAMHS standard, in place (and not met until December 2024) since 2014.

But this positive news tells another, less encouraging, story, too – as outlined in a BBC Scotland piece published this week, featuring comments from The Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The 90% target for mental health support within 18 weeks is being met as neurodivergent people seeking a neuro-developmental diagnosis are no longer included in the data.

While we support the creation of distinct neuro-developmental pathways (trialed, with much success) by the Scottish Government via NAIT, this should not be a pretext for misleading figures.

Like many third-sector organisations supporting neurodivergent people, we know the offer from local and national government for neurodivergent people and families remains insufficient, with lengthy waiting times being routinely reported to us from across the country.

The Scottish Government should ensure quarterly collection, collation, analysis, and publication of disaggregated data pertaining to autism and ADHD diagnosis, including data on waiting times for assessment.

This is a vital step towards better identification of service gaps, improvement of existing services, and for helping to deliver system-level accountability.