Referrals to mental health services among young people in the island has gone up by more than ten per cent in the last year.

But seemingly shocking figures which suggest the numbers have more than doubled each month in 2024 are not what they seem.

A Freedom of Information request sent to Manx Care shows that that referrals to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) more than in March (from 63 to 150), April (from 55 to 127) and May (from 62 to 138) this year and have risen in almost every other month so far, compared to 2023.

However, Manx Care says the rise is largely due to a ‘caseload validation process’ in a bid to drive down waiting times and a new referral management process introduced in December 2023.

A Manx Care spokesman said: ‘The original FOI response caveated that the reported volume of referrals within CAMHS since December 2023 should be treated with caution as the service had embarked on a caseload validation process in preparation for the ongoing programme of work aimed at driving down waiting times.

‘This validation exercise necessitated the creation of internal referrals within CAMHS. Examples of internal typically include referrals for psychological therapies or referrals to psychiatrists for outpatient review.

But Manx Care does concede new referrals have still increased this year.

The spokesman said: ‘When taking into account internal referrals the number of new referrals received by CAMHS had increased by 89 when compared to the previous 12 months, this represents as increase of 13.4% .

‘Demand data and associated trends for secondary mental health services including CAMHS are subject to robust monitoring and reporting through Manx Care governance processes.’