Question reference: S6W-01803
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 5 August 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for mental health (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment, and how this compares with each of the last three years.
Answer
Information on (a) the current national waiting times statistics for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) do not provide information on diagnosis. Therefore we are unable to report on the average wait for mental health diagnosis.
A patient level data set (CAMHS and PT National Dataset) is currently under development by Public Health Scotland which will provide more detail on the diagnosis and treatments received by individuals, and associated waiting times.
Information on (b) the average waiting time for mental health treatment for Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies (PT) is shown in the table below. The median is calculated by taking the middle data point when sorting the number of weeks taken to first treatment. Please note that this includes all patients accessing CAMHS and PT services and excludes other mental health treatment such as inpatients reported elsewhere.
Median Wait in weeks from | Median Wait in weeks from Referral to Treatment | ||
Quarter Ending | Median | Quarter Ending | Median |
Mar-21 | 9 | Mar-21 | 3 |
Dec-20 | 7 | Dec-20 | 2 |
Sep-20 | 7 | Sep-20 | 2 |
Jun-20 | 13 | Jun-20 | 3 |
Mar-20 | 11 | Mar-20 | 5 |
Dec-19 | 11 | Dec-19 | 5 |
Sep-19 | 13 | Sep-19 | 5 |
Jun-19 | 12 | Jun-19 | 5 |
Mar-19 | 12 | Mar-19 | 6 |
Dec-18 | 11 | Dec-18 | 6 |
Sep-18 | 11 | Sep-18 | 6 |
Jun-18 | 13 | Jun-18 | 7 |
Mar-18 | 11 | Mar-18 | 7 |
Source : PHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times publication and PHS Psychological Therapies (PT) waiting times publication.