Member's statement: Waiting Lists: Mental Health Services
Member's statement by Mr Paul Frew on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Frew
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 26 February 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Waiting Lists: Mental Health Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4230508
Read the official Assembly record
Text
As reported on Downtown Radio and Cool FM news by journalist Tara Griffiths on 16 February, the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) waiting times statistics for Northern Ireland were published on 14 February. Those statistics were for the period up to December 2023. As of that date, more than 2,000 children and adolescents were waiting for a CAMHS appointment. More than half of those 2,000 young people had been waiting for more than nine weeks. In December 2022, nearly half of the total number waiting were in the Northern Trust area. As of 31 December 2023, the Northern Trust had reduced that number to 697 out of the 2,095, but, out of that 697, 415 were waiting more than nine weeks. It is important that those figures are on record, because those are our young people and adolescents. Waiting lists are one thing, but the sheer number of children who need to use the service is astronomical. It is absolutely shameful. Children as young as two years old are on mental health waiting lists. The figures correlate with school absence figures. The number of children missing 50% of school time has doubled. The number of children missing 80% of school time has doubled. Those figures have doubled since the onset of lockdown philosophy and the deployment of fear. Anxiety levels in children have gone through the roof. Children and infants are struggling with developmental and social problems that they should never have had to deal with. When they seek support, they have to go onto a waiting list and wait nine weeks to get it. Not only have we let those children down through the pandemic, we are letting them down now. Not only that, but no one wants to talk about it. I assure you, Mr Speaker, that I will keep talking about it until those figures are reduced.
312 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.92).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.85 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.12 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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