Scottish Liberal Democrats reveal that the Scottish Government's mental health treatment time target for children and young people has been breached by millions of days since 2019. NHS Lanarkshire shows significant waiting time target breaches. Councillor Robert Brown calls for action to improve the situation and invest in mental health services.
A Rutherglen councillor is calling for action to improve mental health treatment time targets for children and young people . Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed that the Scottish Government’s mental health treatment time target for children and young people has been breached by a cumulative 4.
2 million days since 2019 – with NHS Lanarkshire amongst the health boards showing waiting time target breaches increasing significantly from pre-pandemic levels. In December 2014, the Scottish Government set a target for young people to begin mental health treatment within 18 weeks, but since then the target has never been met. Councillor Robert Brown, who represents the Rutherglen South ward and is Liberal Democrat Group Leader on South Lanarkshire Council, claims that since April 2019 the 18-week treatment time target had been breached by a cumulative 4,233,120 days, including 421,138 days during 2023/24 and 134,468 days in 2024/25 so far. Councillor Brown added: “Few things are more distressing than seeing children and young people, and their families, struggle with health issues, not least mental health. The SNP’s failed NHS Recovery Plan promised to clear mental health waiting lists by March 2023. Nearly two years on and these statistics show that promise wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. To be fair the position in Lanarkshire has improved this year – but from a record high in 2022/3. For every child and young person struggling, these waits must feel like a lifetime. Nobody should ever have to endure that. “Scottish Liberal Democrats are the party of mental health. We want to invest in driving down waiting times so that we can install more counsellors in schools and roll out more mental health professionals in GP surgeries and A&E departments. “The SNP haven’t met the waiting targets once in the 10 years since they were introduced. It’s time to put an end to years of failur
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