Humza Yousaf’s March mental health deadline missed “by huge margin”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that Humza Yousaf’s NHS Recovery Plan has “utterly failed” people waiting for help with their mental health after the 18-week treatment time target was missed for more than a quarter of children and 1 in 5 adults during the first three months of 2023.

The First Minister’s NHS Recovery Plan committed to “clearing waiting lists in both CAMHS and Psychological Therapies by March 2023”, but the Public Health Scotland statistics published today show that was missed by a huge margin.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:  

“Humza Yousaf made a personal promise in the NHS Recovery Plan to all those waiting for help. Those have proven empty words because his Scottish Government has utterly failed them, yet again.

“Every long wait is a nightmare for those children and adults in desperate need of help.  

“Mental health services were swamped before the pandemic. On top of that have been added the long shadow of lockdown, the pressures of the cost of living and the SNP’s reckless decision to cut £50m from the mental health budget over winter.  

“We need a properly funded, world-beating system that will drive down waits and tackle Scotland’s mental health emergency.  

“Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to put more counsellors in schools, ramp up training so that every workplace can benefit from a mental health first aider and roll out more mental health professionals near to you in GP surgeries and A&E departments.”