MORE than 10,000 children have been forced to wait longer than the 18-week target time for specialist mental health care, new figures have shown.

LibDem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton hit out at the "atrocious waits" some young people have for treatment, saying these could be more than 600 days in some cases.

He said: "10,000 children have been failed already. Unless action is taken now thousands more young people suffering mental ill health will be failed in the years ahead."

The Scottish Government cut the waiting times target in December 2014, so instead of having a maximum wait of 26 weeks for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) young people should not wait longer than 18 weeks for an appointment.

But the target has never been met and analysis of the figures by the Liberal Democrats showed between December 2014 and June 2017 there were a total of 10,341 patients who had waited longer than this.

In the most recent figures for the period April to June 2017, 80.7 per cent of young people were seen within the target time, down from 83.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Cole-Hamilton said the Scottish Government should double spending on CAMHS.

He also called for new specialist beds for youngsters with mental health problems north of Dundee, so they do not need to travel so far for treatment.

The MSP said: "Since the 18-week referral to treatment standard was introduced in December 2014, the Scottish Government hasn't delivered the level of investment and support required to meet it. Now we know that 10,000 children have endured atrocious waits as a result."

Mental health minister Maureen Watt said the Scottish Government was working with health boards to improve services.

She said: "We're investing in the supply and training of workforce to deliver evidence-based therapies, and through NHS Education for Scotland our funding of £24 million between 2016 and 2020 to improve access is providing additional posts to deliver evidence-based interventions."