It can be difficult waiting for support having been referred to learning disability services / Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (CYPMHS). We are committed to seeing children and young people as soon as possible and strive to keep our waiting times as low as possible, however these can depend on the current demand for services and staffing levels. We aim to provide open and clear information about waiting times for each of the services you may be waiting to access. The following detail explains the longest and average waiting times in weeks from referral to initial assessment and then to treatment.
Please note: For the average waits and longest waits you may find yourself seen sooner or slightly longer than estimated. Several factors can influence how long you may wait to be seen, and cases are triaged to identify anyone who may be at the highest risk and therefore require an appointment sooner.
Children and young people's learning disability teams
When you are referred to Intellectual Disability Children and Young People's Mental Health Services (ID-CYPMHS) - formerly known as LD CAMHS - you will initially be offered a Choice Assessment. If it's decided that ID-CYPMHS can help, you will be offered a series of Partnership Appointments. You can view the waiting times for Choice Assessments and Partnership Appointments below for Wirral and Cheshire.
What is a Choice Assessment?
A Choice Assessment appointment is the first appointment you will have with Cheshire or Wirral CYPMHS, where we will talk about you and how you are feeling. One or two members of the team will ask questions and take some notes and you will decide together whether ID - CYPMHS is the best service to help you right now. If applicable, We usually ask to speak with the young person by themselves at some point during the Choice Assessment.
What is a Partnership Appointment?
If we decide together that ID-CYPMHS can help you, you will be offered a series of Partnership Appointments. A Partnership Appointment is a set of sessions with a ID-CYPMHS worker. It is called Partnership because the ID -CYPMHS worker, along with you and your family will work together to bring about the changes you need. Partnership Appointments can be group or individual based.
Choice Assessment waiting times*
| 2024 | September | October | November | December | ||||
| Average | longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | |
| Wirral | 0 | 1 | 9 | 26 | 10 | 22 | 19 | 30 |
| West Cheshire | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Central Cheshire | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| East Cheshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2025 | January | February | March | April | ||||
| Average | longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | |
| Wirral | ||||||||
| West Cheshire | 3 | 12 | ||||||
| Central Cheshire | 2 | 8 | ||||||
| East Cheshire | 1 | 2 | ||||||
* All waiting times above are in weeks
Partnership Appointment waiting times**
| 2024 | September | October | November | December | ||||||
| Wirral | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| West Cheshire | 7 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Central Cheshire | 4 | 12 | 7 | 18 | 6 | 20 | 15 | 48 | ||
| East Cheshire | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 2025 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | |||||
| Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | |
| Wirral | ||||||||||
| West Cheshire | 5 | 12 | ||||||||
| Central Cheshire | 9 | 29 | ||||||||
| East Cheshire | 2 | 8 | ||||||||
** All waiting times above are in weeks