A charity has welcomed Nicola Sturgeon’s commitment to a review of children whose referrals to mental health services were rejected.
Barnardo’s Scotland Director Martin Crewe said he was pleased the first minister had “moved quickly”.
The SNP leader made the announcement this week, revealing that one of the early actions of the Scottish Government’s 10-year mental health strategy would be to commission an audit.
Mr Crewe added: “As we highlighted, one in five of all referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are rejected.
“It is vital that we understand why this is happening and what happens to those children who are rejected.”
He said the charity hoped the review would additionally consider the criteria for referral nationally, the process for making referrals including who can make them, how the process can be improved and what happens to those children and young people who are not seen.
He added: “We hope the review will also look at addressing the gaps in the collection of national data, particularly on the source and reason for referral, as well as the socio-demographic features of the children and young people referred.
On Monday, Barnardo’s Scotland backed Scottish Labour’s call for an investigation into the issue.
It became concerned after an internal survey found almost 50% of a 3,000 sample of those it supports have a diagnosis of mental ill health or are showing symptoms.
It also revealed three quarters of those showing signs of an issue were receiving no service.
At First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: “Next week, as the chamber is aware, the mental health minister will be bringing forward our new 10-year mental health strategy.
“I’m able to tell the chamber that one of the early actions of that strategy will be to commission an audit of rejected referrals.
“Findings from this audit will help ensure that children are being referred to the right services and services are able to provide the help that children need.”
