Whoever takes up the mantle of First Minister must commit to help Scotland’s young people, Jackie Baillie has said, as new figures released from CAMHS in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area show dozens of patients waiting up to a year for treatment while vacancies within the service rise.

Between October and December last year, 117 children and young people were forced to wait between 19 weeks and a year before being seen by the service.

A startling 1221 children and young people were stuck on waiting lists in the region, which includes West Dunbartonshire, at the quarter ending December 2022.

Meanwhile, during the quarter leading to December last year, some 736 referrals for CAMHS were rejected compared with 589 in the previous quarter.

This comes as the latest workforce data shows the number of vacancies in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area alone has doubled since Humza Yousaf became Cabinet Secretary for Health in spring 2021. Vacancies in the health board area account for more than a quarter of those within CAMHS across the whole of Scotland.

When Humza Yousaf became Cabinet Secretary for Health there were less vacancies in the entire west region, incorporating five different health boards than there are for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone now.

Dumbarton constituency MSP, Jackie Baillie said: “These figures show that children and young people are still being left behind after years of neglect by the SNP. I know through correspondence I receive that there are young people in Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond who are really struggling because they cannot access the help they need.

“It is a scandal that so many children and young people are stuck on waiting lists for more than a year while the number of vacancies for CAMHS staff increases.

“The next First Minister must put an end to this shameful state of affairs and commit to helping young people and giving mental health services the support they really need.”