CAMHS waiting times statistics for Northern Ireland (September 2024)

Published 06 November 2024

Theme: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) waiting time statistics for Northern Ireland
Purpose: For information - Statistics in Development
Authors (statisticians): Deborah Kinghan, Heidi Rodgers
Publication date:06 November 2024
Issued by: Community Information Branch, Information and Analysis Directorate, Department of Health, Stormont Estate, Belfast, BT4 3SQ
Email: cib@health-ni.gov.uk
Webpage: Children and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) statistics

Encompass

Encompass is a new electronic patient record system that will create a single digital care record for every citizen in Northern Ireland who receives health and social care. It aims to create better experiences for patients, service users and staff by bringing together information from various existing systems that do not currently communicate effectively. The programme was first introduced in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT) on 9th November 2023 and will be rolled out on a phased basis across all Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in Northern Ireland by the end of 2025. Further information about Encompass can be found at the link below: Encompass - DHCNI (hscni.net)

Children and Young People waiting for a CAMHS Assessment in Northern Ireland

CAMHS waiting times are calculated from the date of referral, to the date of commencement of treatment by and adolescent mental health services.

Table 1 sets out the number of total waits for a CAMHS assessment in Northern Ireland from 30 September 2023 to 30 September 2024 by Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust, and Table 2 sets out the number of those waits that were longer than nine weeks over the same time period.

Please note that due to the rollout of the new patient record IT system encompass, Belfast HSC Trust has been unable to provide data for June and September 2024. All analysis below therefore exclude Belfast HSC Trust and Northern Ireland for these quarters. Caution must be taken when comparing Northern Ireland figures across the quarters.

Table 1: CAMHS total waits by HSC Trust in Northern Ireland from quarter ending 30 September 2023 to 30 September 2024

Note 1: CAMHS services in the South Eastern HSC Trust is covered by Belfast HSC Trust.

Note 2: Belfast HSC Trust waiting times for June and September 2024 are not currently available due to the roll-out of Encompass and are therefore excluded for June and September 2024. This also affects the Northern Ireland total.

Trust	30 Sep 2023	31 Dec 2023	31 Mar 2024	30 Jun 2024	30 Sep 2024
Belfast	643	514	511	NA	NA
Northern	663	697	611	548	282
Southern	380	429	434	331	220
Western	331	372	434	427	415
Northern Ireland	2,017	2,012	1,990	NA	NA

Table 2: CAMHS waits over nine weeks by HSC Trust in Northern Ireland from quarter ending 30 September 2023 to 30 September 2024

Note 1: CAMHS services in the South Eastern HSC Trust is covered by Belfast HSC Trust.

Note 2: To avoid personal identification, all figures lower than five have been converted to the number three. The Northern Ireland totals have been adjusted accordingly; therefore, may vary slightly compared with other sources.

Note 3: Belfast HSC Trust waiting times for June and September 2024 are not currently available due to the roll-out of Encompass and are therefore excluded for June and September 2024. This also affects the Northern Ireland total.

Trust	30 Sep 2023	31 Dec 2023	31 Mar 2024	30 Jun 2024	30 Sep 2024
Belfast	448	284	253	NA	NA
Northern	446	415	446	458	170
Southern	81	122	51	39	0
Western	214	233	276	288	299
Northern Ireland	1,189	1,054	1,026	NA	NA

Download data

The data presented in the figures and tables within this publication can be downloaded in excel format by clicking the button below.

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Quarterly data: 19KB

Metadata

The statistics presented here derive from monthly returns completed by each HSC Trust in relation to Mental Health Outpatients Waiting Times. These returns are submitted to the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) for validation and subsequently shared with the Information and Analysis Directorate (IAD) in DoH. This summary report is created by IAD, and was published on the Department of Health website for the first time on 14 June 2023. The figures will, until further notice, be deemed as statistics in development. Revisions may have been made to previous figures.

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