CAMHS waiting times: find your local service

CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: the NHS services that assess and support children and young people with emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties. In many areas CAMHS (sometimes now called CYPMHS) also runs or feeds into neurodevelopmental pathways for autism and ADHD assessment. CAMHS is run locally by NHS trusts, which is why waiting times and referral routes vary so much by postcode.

Nationally, young people referred to NHS mental health services waited an average of 304 days between September and November 2025 (YoungMinds analysis), the longest on record, and more than 255,000 children were on a waiting list as of March 2025 (Children's Commissioner). Local waits vary widely: some children are seen within 4 weeks, while over a quarter wait more than 18 weeks and tens of thousands wait over a year. Your local trust's published figures or an enquiry to its patient advice service (PALS) will give the most current local picture.

The most common routes are through your GP, your child's school (often via the SENCO or pastoral lead), a health visitor or school nurse. Many areas also accept CAMHS self-referral through a single point of access, where parents and young people can refer directly, and 16 to 18 year olds can usually refer themselves. Put the impact on daily life in writing: referrals that describe specific incidents, risks and effects on sleep, eating, school and family life are triaged more accurately than a diagnosis-shaped request.

Waiting does not mean doing nothing. School can put SEN support in place now, without any diagnosis. You can ask for an EHC needs assessment now: the legal test does not require a diagnosis. If things escalate, every area has a CAMHS crisis team reachable 24/7: call 111 and select the mental health option, or text SHOUT to 85258. And our specialists support families through the wait itself: behaviour, sleep, school anxiety and preparing useful evidence, from £80 a session with no referral needed.

In many areas the neurodevelopmental (autism/ADHD) assessment pathway sits alongside or within CAMHS, but the referral criteria and waits are usually different from mental-health referrals. If the NHS wait for an assessment is long, families in England can use the legal Right to Choose to pick a different NHS-commissioned provider, which can shorten the wait substantially.

CAMHS referrals are often rejected at triage because thresholds are high, not because your child's needs are not real. You can ask the referrer to resubmit with more detail and evidence, ask in writing for the rejection criteria, use local early-help or school-based mental health teams, and keep your own record of incidents. A rejection also does not affect your right to request an EHC needs assessment or to put SEN support in place at school.