DOES the Scottish Government mean it when it says that it takes child and adolescent mental health very seriously? If so, why are the services for young people in such a poor state?
The scale of the problem has been clear for some time – one in five young people whose GPs think they need help are not being accepted for treatment. But the reason some of them are being turned away is troubling. According to Billy Watson, chief executive of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), thousands are going without help because they do not meet the threshold; they are, in other words, not ill enough.
What this really means is that young people are being turned away because there is a severe lack of resources. SAMH says early intervention would help, which it would, but Scotland does not have a consistent counselling service in schools in the way that Wales does. And once children and young people get into the system, they are often treated on unsuitable adult wards.
SAMH’s assessment is that supply and demand is posing problems on a scale never seen before, which means only more funding will help. The Government says it takes child and adolescent mental health very seriously. So it must answer this: why does mental health provision for young people receive just 0.5% of the NHS budget?
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