Referral to treatment times for specialist and adult mental health services in Grampian were revealed as the worst in Scotland earlier this year.
Only 45% of Grampian’s patients were referred within the 18-target waiting time between October and December last year.
Chief executive Malcolm Wright said these results were “not acceptable”, and stressed the health board has redoubled efforts to improve the situation.
He said: “The first thing to say about child and adolescent mental health services, is these services are looking after some of the most vulnerable children and families within our society.
“At the root of some of the challenges is workforce supply. We have a number of vacancies we’re finding really difficult to fill.
“Part of it is around attracting staff, and we’ve seen some progress there, and we’ve had some money coming through from the Scottish Government to help with that, which is very, very helpful.
“We’ve been working with each of the three local authorities around what’s called CAMHS tiers one and two, which are slightly less vulnerable children, to see how can we get more done in schools and community environments so that only the most serious cases come through to the specialist services.
“So there is a lot we’re doing – we’re seeking to do everything we can to recruit staff and improve processes.
“Our waiting times for specialist services I think are not acceptable – they’re not appropriate, and we really need to be improving that, so it’s a top priority for the board.”
