Scots children left waiting more than 1,000 days for specialist mental health treatment

Scots children are waiting more than 1,000 days to be seen by mental health specialists, shock figures have found.The Lib Dems - who uncovered the statistics via FOI requests - warned there was now a postcode lottery for youngsters who needed help from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).The figures show that children across health boards are waiting years to receive treatment from the service.NHS Lothian had the worst performance, with a child waiting 1,100 days to be seen by professionals, according to the data from this year.NHS Lothian, Highland, Lanarkshire and Orkney all had patients waiting more than a year to be seen by CAMHS.The same health boards also saw patients waiting more than a year to start treatment over the past year.The longest a patient waited was 1,600 days at NHS Lothian, while another patient waited 1,086 at NHS Lanarkshire.Meanwhile, 35 young people at NHS Highland and 16 at NHS Lothian waited more than two years for treatment.At least 52 patients at NHS Lothian, 33 patients at NHS Highland, 10 patients at NHS Lanarkshire and 25 patients at NHS Orkney are currently waiting more than a year to start CAMHS treatment.Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton urged the Scottish Government to deliver a “world-class” mental health service for young people.He said: “If children and young people are waiting years for help, their mental health will simply deteriorate.“The SNP have spent 17 years ignoring the scale of the mental health crisis.“They have repeatedly raided tens of millions from the mental health budget, adding to the agony of everyone waiting to be seen.“Scottish Liberal Democrats are the party of mental health.