Article Highland figures on mental health waiting times for children and young people 'should serve as wake-up call' By Alan Hendry Published: 14:29, 06 March 2021 Get the Courier and Groat sent to your inbox every week and swipe through an exact replica of the day's newspaper Lockdown restrictions over the past year are said to have increased the mental health pressures on vulnerable young people (picture posed by a model). Conservative candidate Struan Mackie insists new figures on mental health waiting times for children and young people should serve as a wake-up call on the need for more funding. He said he was alarmed to learn that 214 children and young people in the NHS Highland area had been waiting over a year for mental health treatment as of December 2020. Across Scotland, a total of 1560 children and young people had been waiting more than 12 months.