Over 4,000 people from the Lothians languishing on NHS waiting list to see psychologist
Over 4,000 people from across the Lothians are languishing on an NHS waiting list to see a psychologist.
Freedom of Information Requests revealed that some 22,880 across Scotland are currently on a psychologist waiting list.
Dr Pavan Srireddy, vice-chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said: 'While concerning, these figures come as no surprise. The unprecedented demand for services and critical gaps in the mental health workforce is already leading to unacceptably long waits for mental health care and treatment.
'Working on the frontline we see a postcode lottery of specialist mental health services across the country, but our patients deserve so much better than this.
'Alarmingly, waiting times may be even higher because the Scottish Government don't consider the rise in people seeking help for neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism or ADHD.'
NHS Lothian had the longest list, with 4,287 patients waiting to be seen. This was followed by Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 3,733 and Tayside on 2,821.
Grampian had 2,736 patients waiting, Forth Valley had 2,729 and Lanarkshire had 2,097.
Scottish Labour Mental Health spokesperson Paul Sweeney said 'These shocking figures lay bare the true scale of Scotland's mental health crisis and the SNP's woeful failure to deliver the support needed.
'Behind these figures are people who have been failed in their darkest hour by an NHS that is no longer truly free and available at the point of need.
'NHS staff are working tirelessly to keep overstretched mental health services going, but they are being let down by an SNP government more interested in fiddling the figures than fixing the waiting lists.
'Scots needs NHS mental health services that they can count on and we need a change in government to deliver that.'
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The latest Public Health Scotland data shows that more than 74,000 people started treatment in psychological therapies last year.
'One in two patients are starting treatment within three weeks of referral and there was a significant increase of 7.5 per cent of patients starting treatment in the last quarter.
'This has been made possible by the hard work of our psychology services workforce which has increased by 61.8 per cent in the last decade.
'We want to ensure that all people in Scotland can access the right help, at the right time to support their mental and physical health.
'We continue to work with NHS Boards that are not on track to meet the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral.'
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