To think this article about CAHMS waitlists is misleading and the situation is actually much worse??

[cheeseismydownfall]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58565067

According to the data in this article, over 50% of children and young people are seen in under four weeks, with only 20% waiting more than 12 weeks.

But what does 'being seen' mean? In our experience it means some kind of initial triage, no actual treatment. Waitlists for treatment in our area are over 18 months, and even then the treatment is woefully inadequate - perhaps six sessions of CBT for a child struggling with a serious anxiety disorder. The situation is utterly desperate, more so than this article implies.

I work in mental health and rarely hear anything positive about CAMHS

Yanbu. My 13 year-old attempted suicide earlier this year. He was seen by camhs the next day at the hospital before he was discharged from the children's ward. We had one follow up phone call a week later where they spoke to me and not him and that was it, they told me the school could deal with any problems he had. So he was seen very quickly but there was no treatment of any kind.

YANBU. It's a scandal, or it should be. There was a post on a local FB group from a mum looking for help for her suicidal teen. Lots of posters saying the only way to get help is to pay for it, many still waiting after 18 months. Tough shit if you're poor .

I thought exactly the same thing on reading that this morning. I would be interested to know how they measured this. Anyone contacting CAMHS who expects any kind of useful help within 4 weeks (or 12) is in for a shock!

Yes my daughter was 'seen' within 6 weeks for a triage where the CAMHS person didn't want to put her on the waiting list as we'd had a lot of private therapy and she (DD) 'wasn't better'. Well autism doesn't just 'get better' thanks and we couldn't afford any more private therapy. DD has been school refusing and was on track to an eating disorder so we used our savings to get through that crisis.

After another month or so we got an email to say she was ok the wiring list. That was almost 2 years ago and she hasn't moved - when I ask what's happening they ask me if she is suicidal. If not then she can't move up the waiting list.

Oh my child's just been referred to CAHMS, if it's a long wait I'll just go private. We need actual treatment not just an assessment

I just read that article in disbelief. Those waiting times just don't correlate with the reality I know.

Pre pandemic it realistically took at least a year to get a proper appointment and diagnosis. I think it was 15 months for DD.

We did have a pre appointment after about 3 months of waiting. That was simply to assess whether we qualified to go on to the real waiting list. No official diagnosis or help was provided at that appointment but I'm guessing it must be the pre appointment wait times they're using here.

At my DD's last appointment I told her specialist nurse that she was really struggling with anxiety and low self esteem and could he either refer us to someone for mental health support or provide details of somewhere they could recommend for us to find that help. Basically we need a counselor for DD to talk to.

The CAMHs nurse told us they can't provide that type of help ie the child and adolescent mental health support service don't provide mental health support!

We're now on the waiting list for counselling through another organisation and have been for at least 10+ weeks.