Seven-year wait for mental health care revealed as ‘horrific’ delays condemned

The Scottish Government has come under fire for “horrifically long” waiting times for mental health treatment for adults – with data showing one patient in the Highlands waited more than seven years before starting to get help.

Figures released under freedom of information legislation show the patient, who started receiving treatment in 2024-25, had waited 2,736 days.

In NHS Dumfries and Galloway, a patient waited 1,265 days – more than 180 weeks – before beginning their treatment last year, with another patient in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde waiting 1,229 days.

A patient in NHS Highland who is currently waiting for treatment has been on the list for 200 weeks, the figures obtained by Scottish Liberal Democrats show, while a patient in NHS Fife has been waiting 146 weeks.

NHS Forth Valley meanwhile confirmed 215 adults have been waiting more than 24 months for mental health treatment.

The figures also show NHS Grampian and NHS Lanarkshire had 36 patients who waited more than a year before they started getting treatment in 2024-25, with NHS Forth Valley having 35 such patients, while there were 33 in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton accused SNP ministers of having put “mental health patients on hold” for the past two decades, “actively harming their ability to get the treatment and support they need in good time”.

He added: “With hundreds of patients still facing horrifically long waits, it’s clear the SNP lack any kind of vision or plan for fixing this crisis.”

He said the Lib Dems are “the party of mental health”, and “want to drive down waiting times by ramping up training of mental health first aiders and new staff, as well as rolling out more specialists in GP surgeries and A&E departments”.

Mr Cole-Hamilton added Liberal Democrat policies of increasing taxes on social media giants could also help “provide funding for these vital services”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We understand the distress caused by delays in accessing mental health support and long waits are not acceptable.

“The latest Public Health Scotland data shows that more than 74,000 people started treatment in psychological therapies (PT) last year.

“Half of patients were starting treatment within three weeks of referral in quarter ending March 2025 and there was a significant increase of 7.5% 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% in the last decade.

“We have set clear expectations for NHS Boards and we will continue working closely with those who are not meeting the standard to drive the improvements we need to see.”