Child and Adult Mental Health Services (Impact of Budget Reductions)

Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 11 September 2024.

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Photo of Meghan Gallacher Meghan Gallacher Conservative

To ask the Scottish Government what impact reductions to mental health budgets will have on child and adult mental health services. (S6O-03699)

Photo of Maree Todd Maree Todd Scottish National Party

Following the United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer’s July statement, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution.

We have sought to protect mental health funding despite difficult decisions about reductions, which affect the whole Government. Although any reduction is regrettable, we remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health and working closely with key partners. Our collective focus has to be on making as much difference as possible with our funding.

We will continue to pursue our commitment to addressing waiting times backlogs, through our direct engagement with national health service boards, and to drive forward the delivery of our mental health and wellbeing strategy and associated delivery plan, by investing in prevention and early intervention as well as in services.

Photo of Meghan Gallacher Meghan Gallacher Conservative

Regrettable is one word, but disgraceful is another, because, in some areas of the country, 60 per cent of children and young people are not being seen until between 19 and 35 weeks after their referrals to child and adolescent mental health services. How does the minister intend to tackle CAMHS waiting lists when funding for those services has been disproportionately cut by £18.8 million? Does she feel that those cuts are proportionate?

Photo of Maree Todd Maree Todd Scottish National Party

To be clear, CAMHS funding has not been cut by £18.8 million. The reduction in mental health portfolios has been achieved largely through programmes being adapted or by taking back money from programmes that have come to an end. In some cases, when it has been possible, work has been reprofiled.

We have a really good news story to tell about CAMHS. I am very proud of the sustained progress that we have made over the past few years. That has been down to enormous effort from staff all over Scotland. However, in the first half of this year, we have seen the best national performance against CAMHS waiting times since the 18-week standard was introduced 10 years ago, in 2014.

In the quarter up to June 2024, 84.1 per cent of CAMHS patients started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, and that proportion was up from 73.8 per cent in the same quarter in the previous year. For the second quarter in a row, eight out of 14 of our territorial boards met the 90 per cent standard, and one in two children and young people who are referred to CAMHS now start treatment within six weeks.

Photo of Annabelle Ewing Annabelle Ewing Scottish National Party

Thank you, minister. We need to go to supplementary questions.

Photo of Collette Stevenson Collette Stevenson Scottish National Party

Will the minister advise on the Scottish Government’s progress towards meeting the child and adolescent mental health services waiting times national standard?

Photo of Maree Todd Maree Todd Scottish National Party

As I made clear in my previous answer, I am really proud of the progress that we have made. Eight out of the 14 boards met the 90 per cent standard for the second quarter in a row. That is a substantial improvement on where we have been in the past. One in two children and young people who are referred to CAMHS now start treatment within six weeks, compared with within 12 weeks before the pandemic. During the past few years, there has been real and sustained improvement, which was not apparent prior to the pandemic.

However, we are not complacent, despite the progress, and we continue to be absolutely clear that long waits are unacceptable. Performance varies across health boards, and enhanced support is available from the Government to individual health boards that are not on track to meet the standard.

Photo of Paul Sweeney Paul Sweeney Labour

The minister says that she has been trying to protect mental health funding, but I am afraid that the Government does not have a good track record. The health budget for mental health has been frozen or cut in-year for the past two years, with almost £20 million in cuts announced just last week. In the programme for government, the Government said that it would commit to £120 million of funding for mental health. Will that be new money, or is it just a repackaging of existing funding?

Photo of Maree Todd Maree Todd Scottish National Party

The £120 million commitment was apparent from the budget that we, as a Parliament, collectively passed earlier this year. I have been clear that the savings have been made largely, but not solely, by reprofiling spend. We will slow down the pace of our delivery on commitments by removing some marketing funding and by pulling together the funding, for example, in the mental health enhanced outcomes framework, which brings together a number of previous mental health funding streams. We now offer a single flexible funding stream to NHS boards and integration joint boards, which means that they can use it significantly more flexibly. It is no longer ring fenced, and we have taken a saving back from that. I think that that will work better.