HEAVY demand and understaffing is denying children in Scotland who have been the victim of sexual abuse from receiving mental health treatment, according to a report from Scotland’s Commissioner for Children.

The report, put together by the Children’s Commissioners for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the UN, singles out access to child adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Scotland as a problem. Access for victims of abuse and neglect and for young offenders is particularly an issue in Scotland. Early intervention for both of these groups can make a huge impact.

In the report, Children’s Commissioner for Scotland Tam Baillie writes: “There are concerns for children who commit or are at risk of committing serious crime and those with a history of prior abuse and neglect including [child sex abuse]”.

The report continues: “Children who have been sexually abused should be offered early intervention via CAMHS to decrease their trajectory into adult services. Services are struggling due to increased referrals and few staff which can result in some children being placed at increased mental health risk when earlier intervention could have prevented this”.

There is also concern that children with mental illness are being cared for in “non-specialist settings”. Between 2013 and 2014, 28 children suffering from mental health problems were treated on non-specialist paediatric wards. The

Commissioner’s report suggests this should only happen in “exceptional circumstances”.

Sophie Pilgrim, director of Kindred Scotland, speaking for the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, welcomed the Commissioners’ report, saying: “With a 35% increase in children and young people seeking treatment over the last two years, mental health services are simply unable to cope and the report notes that through a lack of investment there has been a ‘significant impact on services’.”

Pilgrim says almost half of Scotland’s NHS boards are breaching Scottish Government 18-week targets on children being able to access mental health services.

“In this context it should be noted that Under Section 23 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2003, a responsibility is placed on NHS boards to provide accommodation and services to meet the needs of persons under the age of 18. There is a risk that this will simply not happen if a young person is admitted to an adult mental health ward and we are delighted to note the Commissioner’s recommendation that this should only happen in exceptional circumstances,” Pilgrim said.

The reasons for making sure children who are the victims of abuse and neglect receive mental health treatment, says Pilgrim, is obvious: “All the evidence points to the clear advantages of early intervention to tackle those suffering and the clear costs to society of failing to do so as many of these young people become unemployed, turn to crime, or end up with long-term mental health conditions which could have been prevented.

“The young people who require these services and indeed the families who support them are amongst the most vulnerable in our society and we must collectively look to ensure that they are given the support that they need.”

Failure to act, says Pilgrim, will have “a devastating effect”.

The Scottish Government has previously said it has invested £17 million in improving services since 2009 and is committed to ensuring “all young people who need the services get them within the time they should expect”.

The Government say health boards not meeting the target all have action plans in place. As revealed in yesterday’s the National, the Commissioners’ report criticised UK Government’s plans to make savings of £12 billion, which would disproportionately affect poorer children.

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