Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times
Quarter ending September 2025
Accredited official statistics
- Published
- 02 December 2025 (Latest release)
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
About this release
This quarterly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) is sourced from the 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 NHSScotland for the quarter ending September 2025.
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 data. See the data quality document for more information on adjustments and how periods of patient unavailability are considered.
Main points
For the quarter ending September 2025:
- 91.5% of people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is a decrease from 91.8% for the previous quarter and an increase from 89.1% for the same quarter ending September 2024. 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.
- 3,597 people started treatment in CAMHS. This is a decrease of 9.0% (356) from the 3,953 starting treatment in the previous quarter, and a 5.4% (204) decrease from the 3,801 patients who started treatment in the quarter ending September 2024.
- 50% of those starting treatment started within 5 weeks of referral, which is the same as the previous quarter, but a decrease from 6 weeks for quarter ending September 2024.
- A total of 7,521 children and young people were referred to CAMHS in the quarter ending September 2025. This is a decrease of 538 (6.7%) from 8,059 referrals in the previous quarter, but an increase of 101 (1.4%) from the 7,420 referrals in the quarter ending September 2024.
- At quarter ending September 2025, 4,006 children and young people were 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% (379) people waiting when compared to the 4,385 waiting to start treatment in the previous quarter, and a decrease of 5.3% (225) from 4,231 waiting at quarter end September 2024.
Background
CAMHS are 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. PHS is commissioned to collect information on CAMHS, excluding ND pathway activity.
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 3 March 2026.
General enquiries
If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please contact Brendan de Moor at phs.camh@phs.scot.
Media enquiries
If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.
Requesting other formats and reporting issues
If you require publications or documents in other formats, please email phs.otherformats@phs.scot.
To report any issues with a publication, please email phs.generalpublications@phs.scot.
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.