SCOTLAND — Public Health Scotland data shows 1,274 referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) were not accepted in March 2025, the highest monthly number on record. The total number of rejected referrals in 2025 reached 11,067, and 37% of all referrals submitted between January and March this year were not accepted.
Élise Graham’s CAMHS referral was rejected in 2019 when she was 14 due to insufficient evidence. "I had knots in my stomach all the time, I felt sick getting out of bed, going to school," Graham said. "It feels really humiliating because I opened up to all these people and it was really hard to look at it all and think 'this is what I'm going through and you still don't think it's enough'." She later received help from her GP and four school counselling sessions. "I don't want anyone else to feel the way that I did," she said.
Dr. Laura Sutherland, vice-chair of the CAMHS Faculty for the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said CAMHS is treating more children with multiple disorders such as eating disorders, psychosis, or depression. "There are increased pressures on the service, with more complex patients who are in more distress," she said. Sutherland added that other support services, like counselling for bullying, are crucial to prevent future mental illness and noted it would be valuable to investigate why rejection rates are rising.
"It is deeply concerning that so many children and young people are being turned away from services in their hour of need," said Joe Long, Scottish Labour mental health spokesperson. "The Scottish government need to investigate why the number of rejected referrals is so high and ensure young people are not allowed to fall through the cracks when they need support," he said.