To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for children requiring neurodevelopmental assessment. (S6O-03477)

Long waits are unacceptable. To be clear, though, the child and adolescent mental health services statistics capture children who meet the CAMHS criteria, and we have seen a sustained improvement in CAMHS waiting times. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in those statistics unless they also have comorbid mental health issues, so we do not have accurate data for waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessments, nor do we have a treatment time target.

Our key focus is on improving support. Our neurodevelopmental specification places an expectation on national health service and children’s services to work together to implement standards in line with getting it right for every child. Crucially, local authorities have a statutory duty to identify, and to provide support for, pupils with additional support needs, regardless of diagnosis.

We are working with NHS boards and local authorities to improve the support that is available. As part of that, the Scottish Government allocated £55.5 million to boards in 2023-24 to improve mental health and neurodevelopmental services.

I recently met the clinical director of CAMHS in Lanarkshire and was advised that the delays that are being experienced by my constituents in accessing assessments—some of up to three or four years—might be attributed to difficulties in recruiting and retaining psychiatrists. What further action can the Scottish Government take to alleviate those pressures in the immediate and longer terms?

Fulton MacGregor is absolutely correct in his assessment. The mental health and wellbeing workforce action plan established a working group to consider how we can best support the workforce and attract people into psychiatry, including by offering additional places in psychiatry training.

Recruitment into core psychiatry has improved drastically in recent years. Not all children require specialist CAMHS—many will be supported in their community. Local authorities have received more than £50 million since 2020 and have received a further £15 million this year to fund community supports that are focused on prevention and early Intervention for children, young people and their families.

For schools, we have published a professional learning resource for staff, which provides the essential learning that is required to support mental health and wellbeing at all stages. We also provide £16 million a year to local authorities to fund school counselling.

There is a crisis in delivery of care pathways for children with neurodevelopmental needs. As Fulton MacGregor said, waiting times can be in excess of four or five years. Some parents and families in my Constituency have sought private diagnoses, only to find that their NHS general practitioner will not support the diagnosis or offer a prescription. Shared care arrangements exist in other parts of the NHS. What work is the Government doing with NHS Scotland to allow shared care to exist in cases of neurodevelopmental need?

I understand that there is guidance on shared care from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. However, it is, of course, down to the individual general practitioner to make a decision on whether to accept those shared care arrangements. There is work and guidance available in many health boards around Scotland, but the situation is not consistent throughout Scotland. Individual general practitioners make the decision on whether to enter a shared care arrangement.

Although I appreciate that it is important for children and families to have the certainty of a diagnosis, that should not be necessary in order to get the right support and reasonable adjustments. What measures are being taken to ensure that children who are awaiting assessment, but have clear and identifiable needs, are receiving appropriate support in schools? How are their rights being protected and upheld in the absence of a formal diagnosis?

Emma Roddick is absolutely correct: support for children with neurodevelopmental needs in education is critical. Local education authorities are responsible for meeting the additional support needs of their pupils, and a diagnosis of a particular condition is not needed for them to receive support. Children’s needs should be discussed at child planning meetings. That information should help to inform assessment, formulation and diagnosis, where appropriate and helpful. An individualised approach is essential to take account of the child’s developmental stage and daily environment.

As I have said, and as is set out in our “National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards of Care”, we expect boards and children’s services to work towards implementing the standards in the specification.

Question 3 has been withdrawn and question 4 was not lodged.