WAITING times of more than a year for children and young people to access mental health services are 'totally unacceptable', a council meeting was told.
The comment was made by Coun Charlie Wraith at the children's services scrutiny commission meeting, called to discuss improvements to Barnsley Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Significant concerns were raised after it was found children and young people could be waiting up to three months for an initial assessment followed by a further 10 month wait for treatment.
Coun Caroline Saunders said she was extremely worried about the waiting times, adding: "Months of a child's life is different to months in my life. Waiting a year for something is a massively long time."
** The full story is in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated March 13. **
