Letter to Convener from the Auditor General for Scotland, 9 November 2021
Dear Convener
Thank you for your letter regarding my attendance at the Committee’s roundtable evidence session on 7 October 2021 on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). It was good to hear colleagues share their thoughts on these important services, how they have been affected by the pandemic and what still needs to improve.
Your letter sets out the Committee’s view that urgent action is required to address the systemic issues discussed and asks that I consider reviewing Audit Scotland’s work programme to include further audit work on CAMHS.
The limited progress that appears to have been made since our CAMHS report in 2018, as you reference in your letter, and the need for urgent action were the very issues that prompted Audit Scotland to prepare its recent blog on CAMHS, along with the intention to bring renewed focus and attention to this subject.
As outlined in the blog, the Scottish Government has taken some action aimed at improving CAMHS. One of the messages I took away from the Committee’s helpful roundtable evidence session is that the foundations to support change have started to be put in place. But it is too soon to tell how well any of these steps are working or the difference they will make.
I am keen to continue with my commitment to undertake a longer-term programme of audits on mental health-related issues. Having discussed your letter with my team, I believe there is merit in us taking a closer look at adult mental health services. This audit is scheduled in our work programme for 2022/23. Audit Scotland has not undertaken work on adult mental health services since 2009 and I consider that scrutiny of the performance of these services would have a greater immediate impact than doing more audit work at this time on CAMHS. In the meantime, we will closely monitor the progress on the actions being taken by the Scottish Government on CAMHS. This will help inform when we will undertake our next CAMHS audit.
I would be happy to discuss this further with the committee.
Best wishes
Stephen Boyle Auditor General for Scotland