New figures from Public Health Scotland have revealed a substantial increase in the number of children referred for mental health treatment.
A total of 9,672 children and young people were referred to specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) for treatment in the quarter ending March 2022.
This includes referrals for issues such as anxiety and depression, and shows a 22.4% increase in numbers from March 2021 when the same figure was at 7,902.
The number of children being seen within a target time of being referred has also gone up.
However, 26.8% were not seen within the maximum target time, with a total of 1,322 young people waiting over a year for treatment by the end of the last quarter.