TWO thirds of people attempting to access urgent mental health support are not admitted to hospital, and waiting times for support in half of Scottish health boards can be more than three years, an investigation by The Ferret has found. Campaigners claim lives are being lost as a result of the “broken” system.
The new figures backed testimony we have heard in recent months from seven families across Scotland who said they were unable to get help for themselves or their loved ones, at either accident and emergency departments (A&E) or other out-of-hours NHS services, when dealing with life-threatening mental health symptoms. Some were on long waiting lists for psychological support.
Four said their family members had since completed suicide, and claimed that with the right support, tragedy might have been prevented. One other remains in a crisis situation and has made several more attempts on their life.
Scottish suicide rates have dropped by 11%, according to the most recent figures, with 704 probable suicides recorded in 2024.
NHS boards said they were working hard to address the growing need for mental health services and recording some success. While some acknowledged some waiting times were “unacceptable”, they stressed not all patients who arrived at A&E needed a bed and were offered support in the community.
But families said too many people were still being put at risk and left not knowing where to turn when they needed immediate help.
Stark figures on emergency care
THE new 2025 figures, shared with The Ferret and released under freedom of information (FoI) law, show 66% of people seeking urgent mental health support from Scottish A&E are not admitted. In 10 out of the 14 NHS boards, the majority of patients presenting to emergency departments in mental health crises were not offered either a mental health or general hospital bed.
In NHS Highland, only three per cent of people arriving at A&E seeking immediate mental health care were given a bed. The health board said it had reduced reliance on A&E through its 24/7 Mental Health Assessment Unit.
In NHS Grampian, the admission figure was 18%. The health board said it had a protocol with the Scottish Ambulance Service and police which allowed it to take people in crisis to Cornhill mental health hospital for assessment.
Exclusive NHS 24 figures detail the number of people who called requesting mental health support in 2025. Almost half (46%) of more than 149,000 calls made were discontinued. But of those answered, 45% were advised on “self care” rather than referred for treatment.
A further 25% were given GP telephone advice. An ambulance was only called in 5% of cases and less than 1% of more than 80,000 calls were directed to A&E.
The figures also charted long waiting lists for community mental health services, recording maximum waiting times of almost eight years in one case. Seven Scottish health boards logged maximum waiting times of more than three years.
Earlier this month, First Minister John Swinney pledged to expand mental health support ahead of a visit to The Nook, a Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) drop-in support service in Glasgow city centre available without a referral. But he did not say how much the Government is willing to invest. The charity is fundraising to open another five drop-ins across the country by 2028.
The FoI requests were made by mental health campaigner Karen McKeown, who lost her partner, Luke Henderson, to suicide in late 2017. In the month leading to Luke’s death on December 29, she made repeated attempts to get help but says the couple were repeatedly turned away and “bounced” between mental health and addiction services. Luke took his own life about four weeks after she started trying to get support.
Nowhere left to turn
IN that month of crisis, she claimed she and Luke were refused help everywhere they turned. Addiction services that were meant to be “all-singing and all-dancing” closed on Christmas Eve for four days with no out-of-hours option. When they finally opened, Luke’s appointment did not go ahead because they believed he had been taking cannabis. He took his own life the following day. Toxicology did not find cannabis in his system.
“We tried hospitals, community mental health and addiction services,” she says. “There were no other doors for us. Where were we meant to turn? Now there’s no accountability.”
A spokesperson for NHS Lanarkshire said: “NHS Lanarkshire extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of anyone affected by suicide. We recognise how distressing and complex these circumstances are, and we are committed to continually learning and improving our services.”
McKeown, who is in contact with many other families whose experiences echo her own, said she started campaigning in Luke’s honour, to show her case was indicative of a “broken” system. In 2021, she raised a petition calling for reform to mental health services. In September 2025, Neil Gray, then health secretary, told the petitions committee “a lot has changed” since Luke’s death.
However, McKeown said her FoIs, along with the experiences of families across Scotland, shot down his claim. “So much has been promised, policy and funding – but this shows people were still not getting the help. It will continue to cost people their lives if something isn’t done.”
Fears of suicide risk
THE Ferret spoke to Siobhan Williams, whose father, Darrell Williams, took his own life in August 2024. He had gone to A&E at the Lorn and Islands hospital in Oban twice in the weeks leading up to his death, including on July 26, when he had taken a “severe” overdose but was not admitted despite his daughter’s concern for his safety. A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute health and social care partnership said it takes “all concerns regarding patient care and safety seriously”.
In October, three months after Darrell’s death, the Health and Safety Executive ordered the hospital to take measures to reduce suicides.
A similar notice was issued to Wishaw University Hospital at the same time. Fiona Ford, from Lanarkshire, claimed that two weeks before her partner, Barry Keane (pictured below), completed suicide, he had gone to that hospital with a homeless charity worker in June 2025 “begging for help”.
But when he refused to leave, she said he was escorted out of the hospital by police. She claims they did not consider his situation serious because he was so well known to emergency services. Ford was one of many people who told us that A&E refused to help their loved ones when drug use was involved.
Last December, Police Scotland claimed the force was under “unsustainable pressure” as a result of dealing with mental health incidents, while campaigners point out the police should not be the service dealing with severely unwell people.
A place called here
NATALIE Dakhil’s father, Michael Byrne, tried to take his own life twice before he completed suicide on February 5, 2024, at just 62-years-old. Three days before his death, he told his community psychiatric nurse that he intended to kill himself, specifying the method he planned to use, which is widely considered to flag the highest level of risk.
He was only offered an appointment five days later and took his own life two days before that.
With her husband Anton, Natalie went on to found A Place Called Here, a support group for survivors of suicide. “I find these figures deeply concerning,” she said.
“These experiences are not isolated incidents but reflect a system under significant strain. For many families, including my own, these deaths feel preventable, and we must do more to ensure that people in crisis receive the care and support they need.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said its “condolences are with Ms Dakhil and their family” and declined to comment further due to “patient confidentiality”.
Calls for action
JOHN Gibson, chief executive of The Canmore Trust – a charity he set up to raise awareness of suicide after his son Cameron took his own life at 24-years-old – claimed the mental health care system “at times, does not feel not safe”.
He was tired and frustrated when we spoke, having spent many hours trying to get help for a young woman who had made two attempts on her life but was being refused a bed.
“This happens all too often,” he said. “We need radical reform and my heart breaks for the many amazing staff on the frontline of the NHS who are clearly struggling with increasing demand alongside lack of staff and resources.”
Scottish Labour MSP Mark Griffin said Karen McKeown’s “heartbreaking” story “must be a call to action for the Government”. “We need to make sure GPs, NHS 24, A&E and hospitals are all equipped to help people who are struggling, and Scottish Labour have called for the establishment of a dedicated mental health emergency service,” he added. “I will continue to press the government to act.”
A spokesperson for NHS 24 said calls to its mental health hub were taken by “specially trained colleagues, including psychological wellbeing practitioners and mental health nurses” able to offer a “comprehensive mental wellbeing assessment”.
“Calls to the mental health hub can be long and complex and can result in several possible outcomes ranging from self-care advice, referral to the caller’s own GP or referral into other appropriate services within the caller’s own local health board area”, they added.
NHS health boards who responded to The Ferret said demand for mental health and addiction services had significantly increased and claimed they were taking action to strengthen access to mental health crisis support and tackle waiting lists.
Maree Todd, minister for mental wellbeing, said: “Every death by suicide is a tragedy with a far-reaching impact on family, friends and the wider community, and my heartfelt sympathies go out to all those affected.”
She said the Government and Cosla’s suicide prevention action plan “sets out an ambitious programme of work over the next three years to prevent suicide” and has a £3 million budget in 2026-27.
“This includes intensifying efforts to reach people at higher risk of suicide, building prevention awareness in our services and our communities and expanding the provision of timely, compassionate and high-quality support to anyone with thoughts of suicide or affected by suicide in any way,” she added.
