The waits were raised by a member of the public at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s (HIWHNFT) Annual Members Meeting in Eastleigh.
On the Isle of Wight, waits for accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) services have previously been described as “totally unacceptable” by health committee councillor Paul Fuller.
As of May, the average wait to first contact with Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) services on the Island was 4.3 weeks against a national target of four weeks, according to an NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight report.
The attendee at yesterday’s meeting said: “What’s happening about CAMHS because I talk to people I know – they’re waiting so long to get a diagnosis they’re going private – but when they go private they can’t go back in, can they?”
In response, Ron Shields, chief executive at HIWHNFT, said: “As you’re describing and as you know from experience, there are still too many young people waiting for too long.
“We’ve tried to look at parts of that – so for example, the biggest element of the waiting list is for those young people with ADHD and looking for a diagnosis.
“In that particular area, what we’re trying to do is to recognise that actually a whole system has been set up on trying to work around a diagnosis and having too many people waiting to be diagnosed is the wrong approach.
“The point about movement between private diagnosis and then support is sometimes a challenge; it isn’t the case that people are debarred from service because they’ve sought private opinion but when people are alternating between the two, that sometimes is a challenge.
“We always look at it on individual basis, we will always try then to make sure people get the services they need from the NHS.”