The number of staff working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in NHS Ayrshire and Arran has risen from 26.96 whole-time equivalent (WTE) staff in September 2009, to 58.6 by December 2017.
There are now five times as many mental health nurses in Ayrshire than a decade ago when the SNP came into office, with 33.7 WTE staff currently working in CAMHS for NHS Ayrshire & Arran. The number of psychologists has also risen from 3.2 in 2007 to 11.6 in 2017.
Overall, staffing in Scotland’s psychology and children’s and young people’s mental health care services is at a record high with 1,138.5 WTE staff in psychology services at the end of 2017, a 79% increase since September 2006.
In December 2017, there were 1,013.9 WTE clinical staff working in CAMHS, an increase of 33% since September 2009. The number of psychologists working in CAMHS has more than doubled in the past ten years.
Expansion and modernisation of training programmes as well as better staff retention have bolstered staff numbers in recent years. Ten years after graduating, 71% of clinical psychologists trained in Scotland still work for NHS Scotland and the one-year retention rate has risen from 61.5% between 2001 and 2007 to 78.1% since 2008.
Kenneth Gibson MSP commented:
“Thanks to a period of sustained investment and expanded training since the SNP Government came to power in 2007, Ayrshire has seen a significant increase in the number of well-trained professionals entering the mental health care workforce.
“As people become more aware of mental health problems and the care that is available for them in Scotland, demand is increasing and we must have the staff and infrastructure in place to support their needs.”
Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt added:
“We continue to improve mental health services through the £150 million of extra funding we’re providing over five years to help deliver our Mental Health Strategy. This includes £54 million to help boards improve their performance against waiting times targets by investing in workforce development, recruitment and retention, and service improvement support.”
To read more about the SNP Government’s Mental Health Strategy, please click here.
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