Child, adolescent, and psychological therapies national dataset (CAPTND)
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Report

Revisions made to this publication on 12 November 2024, these are outlined in the about this release section.

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an update on information relating to activity in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) from the Child, Adolescent, and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) in NHSScotland, for the quarter ending June 2024.

These statistics contain new data affecting all quarters from April 2023 to June 2024. The revised data now include the ‘source of referral’ for when a patient was referred to a health board’s CAMH service.  The change has resulted in minor changes to previously published data items, though these changes have not affected the overall interpretation of the publication. For an overview of all data table revisions please see the accompanying files.

Main points

CAPTND is a dataset in development that collates information for mental health services at patient-level and records each individual’s journey through the service. CAPTND data are still under development therefore any inferences or conclusions from this analysis must be treated with caution.

For CAMHS in the quarter ending June 2024:

• There were a total of 8,724 children and young people referred to CAMHS and recorded in CAPTND. This was a decrease of 1,038 (10.6%) compared with the 9,762 referrals in the previous quarter, and a decrease of 221 (2.5%) compared with the 8,945 referrals in the same quarter ending June 2023.
• CAMHS across NHSScotland received 4,875 (55.9%) referrals for females and 3,846 (44.1%) for males.
• Of the 8,724 referrals to CAMHS, 6,316 (72.4%) were accepted.
• There were a total of 45,876 CAMHS appointments recorded in CAPTND across NHS Scotland. This is an increase of 5,221 (12.8%) recorded appointments since the previous quarter, and an increase of 11,098 (31.9%) recorded appointments since the same quarter in the previous year.

Background

Waiting times information for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and psychological therapies using CAPTND is still being developed. NHS health boards are working with PHS and the Scottish Government to improve the consistency and completeness of the information.

CAMHS are multi-disciplinary teams that provide treatment and/or interventions for children and young people experiencing mental health problems. Where a child or young person is waiting for an assessment for a neurodevelopmental condition such as ASD, or ADHD, they may not be appropriate for CAMHS. This release does not report on the neurodevelopmental (ND) pathway including those children and young people on the neurodevelopmental waiting list.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 4 March 2025.