Over 400 children and adults waiting for mental health assessment in Derry & Western Trust

New data released for the period January 1 to the end of March 2024 shows that the number of people waiting for assessment by Children and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS) locally was the highest it has been in almost two years.

Of those awaiting assessment, more than half – 276 – were waiting over nine weeks, according to the mental health outpatient waiting time statistics submitted by the Western Trust itself to the Department of Health.

The figures show the number of people on waiting lists has increased markedly. Six months prior, in the quarter to September 30, 2023 there were 331 people waiting to access services, rising to 372 in the subsequent quarter to December 31, 2023.

However the Western Trust overall waiting figures for the first three months of this year are joint lowest among the four Trusts in Northern Ireland delivering CAMHS services. A total of 611 people were waiting to access services in the Northern Trust, 511 in Belfast (figures which includes the South Eastern Health Trust), with 434 people on waiting lists in both the Western Trust and Southern Trust.

In terms of people waiting longer than nine weeks, the Northern Trust had 446 such cases, the Western Trust 276, the Belfast Trust 253 and the Southern Trust 51.

The figures were published by the Department of Health on Thursday and show that overall in the north, as of March 31, 2024, there were 1,990 total waits for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) assessment in Northern Ireland, of which 1,026 were waiting for more than nine weeks (52%).

Since a low of 1,107 total waits for a CAMHS assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2020), the number of children and young people waiting for an assessment of CAMHS in Northern Ireland has been increasing, with a peak of 2,388 total waits back at March 31, 2023.

The statistics presented derive from returns completed by each HSC Trust in Northern Ireland in relation to Mental Health Outpatients Waiting Times.