RCPCH responds to Scottish Government's mental health announcement

Scotland will recruit an additional 80 mental health professionals to work with children and young people, following a £4 million investment.

A taskforce appointed by Scottish Government to review Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) publishes its delivery plan for improving CAMHS in Scotland.

The taskforce’s recommendations, which were revealed today, include:

  • preventing young people being referred to specialist care by default, and treating more in primary and community-based care
  • providing young people and families with more information on what to expect from mental health services and how the system works.

Responding to Scottish Government’s announcement, Professor Steve Turner, Officer for Scotland for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said:

Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is amid a mental health crisis, so today’s announcement is one that we very much welcome.

All children, regardless of what support they need, should be able to access it, so we are particularly pleased to hear that the key principals of the taskforce aim to do just that. We are also pleased with the taskforce’s plans for an integrated approach to mental health, as we know that only by integrating child health with primary care and other agencies will we support these vulnerable children and prevent many reaching crisis point.

Scottish Government has now laid out its plans for improved mental health support, but we need to see the detail. We look forward to seeing how these plans will be achieved, and believe that once implemented, they have the power to improve the outcomes of many children and young people in Scotland.