All of the north’s five health trusts are failing to meet the statutory 13 week target for a psychology appointment.
The South Eastern trust is the worst, with 1,197 people (82%) waiting more than 13 weeks.
It was followed by Western trust with 79%; Southern trust with 75%; Belfast trust with 71%; and Northern trust with 60%.
Regionally, 74% of those waiting on a psychology appointment are waiting in excess of 13 weeks.
The figures were revealed in an assembly question answer from then Health Minister Robin Swann to West Belfast MLA Órlaithí Flynn. She said waiting times for psychology appointments across the north have reached “utterly unsustainable levels”.
“I have been dealing with a number of constituents who are sadly left waiting on these extremely long waiting lists to get help.
“Patients are desperate for help, yet the services are simply not there to support them. The World Health Organisation has described mental ill-health as a global epidemic and we have not been spared this,” she said.
“We need investment in mental health services in early intervention, prevention and treatment. The overall health budget needs to be increased and more mental health professionals need to be trained and hired into the system.
“We need to support those with mental health conditions and make sure the right intervention is available at the right time,” said Ms Flynn.
Sara Boyce, organiser with Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) New Script for Mental Health said the data given to Ms Flynn needed to be “publicly available”.
She added: “This was uncovered through an assembly question, so, for the public to know and to be able to hold the Department of Health and the trusts to account, data on waiting times for psychological therapy or any mental health data sets, needs to be published, in the way we are familiar with in terms of waiting times for cancer or orthopaedic treatment.
“This is vital data because now we see the data, we can see the scale of the problem.”
The Department of Health said all all hospital trusts’ psychological services were experiencing “significant waiting list pressures”.
They added: “Demand for assessment and treatment vastly outweigh capacity, and increased referrals are being received for those with more complex needs, leading to longer treatment requirements.
“Investment in additional training places is required to meet the level of need, but this will have to be considered in the context of the extremely challenging financial situation facing the department and the many competing priorities.
“In the absence of additional funding, trusts have put in place a number of measures to reduce waiting times. These include: working to fill vacancies; reviewing service operational policies to increase efficiency; close scrutiny and management of waiting lists; the development of early intervention approaches; and the provision of group workshop/interventions in a timely fashion in order to prioritise those with more complex needs waiting for 1:1 therapy.
“While these actions have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the services provided, additional investment will be required to address the significant demand and capacity gaps.”
