Waiting times for children who need treatment for mental health problems have been branded unacceptable.

An MHK hit out at the 12 weeks’ waiting time for an urgent referral.

Juan Watterson (Rushen) said that length of time was ’not acceptable for acute care’.

He added: ’We would not keep someone with a broken leg waiting that long.’

The issue was raised in Tynwald this week, when Health Minister David Ashford admitted his department needed to reduce the waiting times for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

There were 48 young people on the waiting list for ’generic CAMHS treatment’, he said, and a further 104 who have been referred to for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and neurodevelopmental disorder screening and assessment.

Mr Ashford said: ’Any cases received are prioritised on receipt, with new urgent referrals assessed within 12 weeks.’

In response to Mr Watterson’s criticism, he said: ’The simple answer is, in order to try and get it down, it will take resource.

’Certainly, we do need to get the times of referrals down, but what we need to also look at is the way we are prioritising cases and making sure that those that are the most urgent are the ones that are dealt with first.’

The minister said there had been ’considerable investment’ by his department to ensure there was adequate staff provision at CAMHS.

’Some of these plans are yet to come to fruition,’ he said.

’However, an additional 11.5 medical nursing and allied health professional posts have been introduced into CAMHS since October 2016.

’The newly formed Community Care Directorate has recognised that there needs to be developed a more integrated CAMHS service, and as a priority, plans for this will start to progress in the second half of this month.’