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Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times

This section covers waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland for the year October 2023 to September 2024. 

The Scottish Government target is that 90% of people should receive mental health treatment within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies.

Waiting times in Glasgow 

In the period October to September 2023/24, all children and young people referred to CAMHS in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde were seen within one year of referral, with the majority (98.6%) being seen within 18 weeks, and the rest (1.4%) being seen within 19-35 weeks.

These waiting times are an improvement on the previous year (October to September 2022/23), where 92.4% of patients were seen within 18 weeks, 6.7% were seen within 19-35 weeks, 0.9% were waiting between 36-52 weeks. 

Percentage of children and young people awaiting CAMHS treatment by number of weeks since referral

Waiting times for CAMHS in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was lower than the national average for the same time period. 

Waiting times in Scotland

Across Scotland, in the period October to September 2023/24, a large majority (77.2%) of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of their referral, 13.9% were seen within 19-35 weeks, 4.9% were seen within 36-52 weeks, and 2.7% waited longer than a year to be seen.

These national figures may be influenced by variation in services between health boards.

Percentage oh children and young people awaiting CAMHS treatment by number of weeks since referral by geography

Notes

Data is from Public Health Scotland CAMHS Waiting Times report, which is published quarterly. 

This page was updated in March 2025.