By Rory Murphy
Children and young people are being failed by the SNP, Scottish Labour has said as rejected mental health referrals rise.
Figures published this week by Public Health Scotland show that in the quarter ending September 2023, 27 per cent of children and young people referred to CAMHS had their referral rejected.
This is the highest rate of rejected referrals in over a year.
So far in 2023, 7,059 children and young people have been turned away from CAMHS – an average of 26 children a day.
In 2018 the Scottish Government undertook an audit of rejected referrals in CAMHS, however the rate of rejected referrals is now even higher.
This revelation comes after news that mental well-being in Scotland is at a record low, according to the annual Scottish Health Survey.
Scottish Labour Mental Health spokesperson Paul Sweeney, left, said “Scotland is in the grip of a mental health crisis but hundreds of children and young people are being turned away from services every month.
“NHS staff are working tirelessly to deliver the care children and young people need, but services are at breaking point because of the SNP’s mismanagement.
“We cannot allow struggling young people to fall through the cracks – the SNP must ensure that CAMHS services can cope and children can get the support they need.
“Scottish Labour will continue to call for better mental health services across the board, including a dedicated mental health worker in every GP surgery and an increase in the proportion of the health budget spent on mental health.”
| Total Referrals | Rejected Referrals | % rejected | |
| Jan-2023 | 3335 | 899 | 27% |
| Feb-2023 | 2730 | 669 | 25% |
| Mar-2023 | 2139 | 538 | 25% |
| Apr-2023 | 3515 | 892 | 25% |
| May-2023 | 3475 | 878 | 25% |
| Jun-2023 | 2535 | 628 | 25% |
| Jul-2023 | 4070 | 992 | 24% |
| Aug-2023 | 3410 | 771 | 23% |
| Sep-2023 | 3076 | 792 | 26% |
| TOTAL | 28,285 | 7,059 | 25% |
Dashboard – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times – Quarter ending September 2023 – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times – Publications – Public Health Scotland.
During the 2018 CAMHS Rejected Referrals Audit 1 in 5 referrals were rejected: https://www.gov.scot/publications/rejected-referrals-child-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-qualitative-quantitative/
Average levels of mental wellbeing continued to decrease in 2022, reaching a historic low since measurement of this began on the survey in 2008: