Support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method - Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421

Professor John Robertson OBA

From Public Health Scotland, yesterday, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times Quarter ending June 2025, the above graph and:

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an update of how long children and young people waited to start treatment with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in NHSScotland for the quarter ending June 2025.

91.8% of people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 91.6% for the previous quarter and from 84.1% for the same quarter ending June 2024. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS.

3,953 people started treatment in CAMHS. This is a 4.3% (163) increase from the 3,790 starting treatment in the previous quarter, and a 9.7% (424) decrease from the 4,377 patients starting treatment in the quarter ending June 2024.

50% of those starting treatment started within 5 weeks of referral.

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-june-2025/

This unambiguous success by NHS Scotland has drawn desperate attempts to deny its legitimacy. For example, in April 2025, BBC Scotland had: Thousands on ‘hidden’ ADHD and autism waiting lists.

This is a complex field and I wouldn’t dream of arguing that ADHD and autism do not require support but what is clear is that the media/opposition campaign to include them in the above target is new, ‘goal post moving’ , and cynically, politically motivated, in an attempt to deny the success in hitting the target.