To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for CAMHS in NHS Fife. (S6O-03604)

We continually monitor CAMHS waiting times performance, engage with all boards—including NHS Fife—and direct tailored support to the boards with the longest waits, providing access to professional advice.

In recent months, NHS Fife has made improvements in its waiting list for CAMHS. Between June 2023 and the end of March 2024, when the latest statistics were published, there was a 25 per cent decrease in the waiting list and a 41 per cent decrease in the number of patients who wait more than 18 weeks. That is to the credit of the staff in Fife, who should be commended for their hard work in achieving that.

Boards were allocated £55.5 million in 2023-24 via the mental health outcomes framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health services, including CAMHS, in addition to the core funding that health boards receive.

I thank the cabinet secretary for that response, and I know that he is highlighting improvements, but there is a mental health crisis among our young people. The Scottish Government has repeatedly pledged action, but, when we look at the other stats, we see that nothing has changed.

NHS Fife’s latest data, from March 2024, shows that there are still 41 young people waiting up to 35 weeks for a follow-up appointment following a referral; that figure has barely moved from the 47 young people who were waiting for more than 35 weeks in March last year. Even more worrying is the fact that, during the same period, 31 per cent of referrals were rejected altogether, leaving many to seek help from charities, and that is almost identical to the 33 per cent that was recorded in the previous year.

What is the question?

That is another year gone by. When will the Scottish Government stop promising and actually do something?

I thank Roz McCall for her question and for the attention that she is putting on the importance of the investment that we are making in child and adolescent mental health services. We have increased investment and we have increased support through the workforce.

On the figures that Roz McCall quoted of those who are waiting 19 to 35 weeks, that number was 70 in June 2023, and it was 41 in March this year. Clearly, for the people who are waiting that length of time, that is not acceptable, but we are seeing an improvement in those services. It is not fair to say that the decisions that we have taken have had no impact. They are having an impact.

It is also not fair to say that having their referral rejected means that there is no help or support for those children. As a specialist service, CAMHS will be the right support for only a small proportion of children and young people. The national CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted are sensitively and appropriately signposted to more suitable services.

We are investing and we are making improvements. I want to see those improvements happen faster, which is why—

I will take a very brief supplementary question. It will need to be brief, as will the response.

The Psychotherapy and Counselling Union met me today and raised the point that there are often no other routes of referral apart from CAMHS. Loading pressure on to CAMHS is part of a vicious cycle, which includes cuts to mental health spending across the board in community settings, primary care settings and educational settings. Is that not compounding the pressure that we are seeing, not just in CAMHS but across our mental health services and the NHS?

There has been no cut to mental health services—I do not know where Paul Sweeney is getting that from. There has been a substantial increase—a near doubling—in the funding that is available for mental health, and a clear investment has been made in CAMHS. That is why there is an increase in the workforce supporting CAMHS referrals and why there is better referral-to-treatment performance. It is not where we want it to be, but it is the best performance that we have had in a decade.

I am very grateful to the front-line staff who are working so hard and performing so well to ensure that we are providing those services to the children and young people who need them.

That concludes portfolio questions on NHS recovery. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business.