Psychological therapies waiting times
Quarter ending March 2024
An Official Statistics publication for Scotland
- Published
- 04 June 2024
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
About this release
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an update on how long people of all ages waited to start treatment with psychological therapies in NHS Scotland for the quarter ending March 2024.
Main points
For the quarter ending March 2024:
- 79.3% of people of all ages started their treatment within 18 weeks of referral, compared to 80.6% of people for the previous quarter, and 80.0% of people for the quarter ending March 2023. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of people should start their treatment within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies.
- 50% of the people of all ages starting treatment started within 4 weeks of referral.
- 18,776 people of all ages started psychological therapies treatment in NHS Boards in the quarter ending March 2024. This is an increase of 1.7% (319) from the previous quarter, and a decrease of 3.3% (636) from the quarter ending March 2023.
- 1,417 people aged 65+ years started treatment with psychological therapies in this quarter. 77.8% started their treatment within 18 weeks of referral, a decrease from 80.6% in the previous quarter and from 82.0% for the quarter ending March 2023.
- A total of 28,875 people of all ages were referred for psychological therapies (and in some cases further adult mental health services) in Scotland in this quarter (see the Data Quality Document). This is a decrease of 16.3% (5,630) from 34,505 people referred in the previous quarter and a 30.7% (12,766) decrease from 41,641 referrals in the same quarter ending March 2023. Please note that the decrease in referrals is mostly due to a change in reporting referrals in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Background
Waiting times information for psychological therapies is still being developed. NHS Boards are working with PHS and the Scottish Government to improve the consistency and completeness of the information.
Psychological therapies refer to a range of interventions, based on psychological concepts and theory, which are designed to help people understand and make changes to their thinking, behaviour and relationships in order to relieve distress and to improve functioning. The standard applies specifically to psychological therapies for treatment of a mental illness or disorder.
Please note from November 2023, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde report in accordance with PHS updated Psychological Therapies and Interventions Waiting Times Standard Definitions released in September 2023. Please see the Data Quality Document for more information.
Further information
The next release of this publication will be 3 September 2024.
General enquiries
If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please contact Santiago Nieva at phs.psychtherapies@phs.scot.
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If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.
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Older versions of this publication
Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.