Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times
Quarter ending June 2026

About this release

NHS Orkney were unable to submit CAMHS data for June 2026, therefore the Scotland quarter ending June 2026 data are likely to be an undercount of the true data.

This quarterly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) is sourced from the national Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) database and provides an update of how long children and young people waited to start treatment with CAMHS in NHS Scotland for the quarter ending June 2026.

This publication presents the Accredited official statistics derived from the aggregate national data collection on CAMHS waiting times and is to be considered as the most reliable source of CAMHS waiting times data.  Due to the ongoing data quality and completeness issues, these data should not be compared to the developing CAMHS data presented in the statistics in development patient level Child, Adolescent, and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND).

Unless otherwise stated, this publication presents adjusted waiting times data for the quarter ending June 2026. See the data quality document for more information on adjustments and how periods of patient unavailability are considered.

Main points

In the quarter ending June 2026*:

• 90.9% of people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is a decrease from 91.2% for the previous quarter and a decrease from 91.8% for the same quarter ending June 2025. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. The chart below shows performance in relation to this target over the past 4 years, illustrating the target was first achieved in quarter ending December 2024.
• 4,006 people were recorded as having started treatment in CAMHS. This is an increase of 3.8% (148) from the 3,858 people reported as starting treatment in the previous quarter and an increase of 1.3% (53) from the 3,953 patients who were reported as having started treatment in the quarter ending June 2025.
• A total of 8,822 children and young people were reported as being referred to CAMHS in the quarter ending June 2026. This is a decrease of 10.0% (985) from 9,807 reported referrals in the previous quarter, and an increase of 9.5% (763) from the 8,059 referrals reported in the quarter ending June 2025.
• At quarter ending June 2026, 4,379 children and young people were counted as being on a waiting list to start treatment in CAMHS (see the data quality document for individual board commentaries). This is a decrease of 8.6% (412) when compared to the 4,791 reported as waiting to start treatment in the previous quarter, and a decrease of 0.1% (6) from the 4,385 reported as waiting at quarter end June 2025.

* NHS Scotland data for June 2026 are likely to be an undercount due to the exclusion of NHS Orkney data.

Chart 1: shows a trendline for the percentage of patients who started treatment in CAMHS within 18 weeks of referral, by quarter for June 2022 - June 2026 in Scotland. The percentage of children and young people seen for quarter ending June 2022 was 68.3%. Performance increased above 80% quarter ending December 2023 and above 90% quarter ending December 2024. This current quarter ending June 2026 90.9% of children started treatment within 18 weeks. PHS is commissioned to collect information on CAMHS, excluding ND pathway activity. According to CAMHS national service specification, CAMHS may not be appropriate for those with ND conditions but without a co-existing mental health condition and so will be managed via ND pathways and not included in this publication.

Close

Percentage of patients who started treatment in CAMHS within 18 weeks of referral, by quarter ending June 2022 - June 2026, NHS Scotland*

* NHS Scotland data for June 2026 are likely to be an undercount due to the exclusion of NHS Orkney data.

Background

CAMHS consist of multi-disciplinary teams that provide treatment and/or interventions for children and young people experiencing mental health problems.  Note that where a child or young person is waiting on an assessment for a neurodevelopmental (ND) condition, such as autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), they may not meet the national referral criteria as set out in the CAMHS national service specification, and therefore will not be counted in CAMHS statistics

Please see the ND activity section of the data quality document, and the national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care for more information.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 1 December 2026.