Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the SNP “never deliver” on mental health.
04:30, 01 May 2026Updated 14:47, 01 May 2026
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney (left)with Minister for Health and Social Care Neil Gray
The SNP has been criticised over shelved plans to deliver an extra 1,000 mental health workers.
Nationalist Ministers made the promise for the additional staff when Nicola Sturgeon was First Minister.
Humza Yousaf’s Government confirmed a delay in 2023 and a written answer from last year confirms the pause has continued under John Swinney.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “The SNP talk a good game about mental health whenever an election is coming but they never deliver. It is now clear in black and white that they have given up on this promise.
“This election offers the chance to build the world-class mental health services Scotland deserves, ending nineteen years of SNP neglect.
“We know that the long waits for help are preventing people from fulfilling their potential; it’s holding them back in education and work.
“Every vote for us is a vote to recruit and retain mental health staff, ramp up mental health training in every work place and provide new walk-in centres to meet the needs of people in crisis.”
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It comes after figures showed the Government had consistently breached its target that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral.
Since 2019, the total delay across Scotland has exceeded 4.5 million days, with NHS Lothian alone accounting for nearly 200,000 days of waiting.
Other breaches include 11,442 days in NHS Highland, 3,921 days in NHS Lanarkshire, 1,939 days in NHS Tayside and 1,540 days in NHS Grampian.
However, the SNP Government said in March that the 90% target had been met as of December last year.
They said waiting times of over 18 weeks were now at their lowest level since June 2013 and that CAMHS targets had been met consistently for over a year.
The Record launched its Save Young Lives in November following a wave of tragic young deaths to suicide.
As part of the campaign, we have also demanded every political party commit to reducing waiting times for children and adolescents in their Holyrood manifestos.
Scottish Labour Mental Health spokesperson Paul Sweeney said “This is yet another example of a big SNP promise that has been consigned to the dustbin and Scots are paying the price. With this woeful record, you cannot trust any of the SNP’s manifesto pledges in this election.
“After nearly 20 years of SNP rule, too many children and adults are being let down in their hour of need by mental health services that don’t work.”
Maree Todd, SNP candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: “Under the SNP, our NHS has a record number of staff employed to provide mental health support and our mental health budget for the year exceeds £1.5billion.
“We established Scotland’s NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, which is providing round-the-clock urgent mental health support to around 10,000 people each month. A re-elected SNP government will expand this hub to include psychological therapies, and we will also invest an additional £3.5 million this year to make it easier for people to get the help they need.
“This is the sort of serious action you get from the SNP under John Swinney’s experienced leadership and exactly the sort of support people facing mental health problems need and deserve”.