SCOTLAND’S NHS faces a “workforce crisis” in psychiatry resulting in a “postcode lottery” in mental health treatment, MSPs have warned.

Holyrood’s public audit committee sounded alarm bells on a chronic shortage of psychiatrists and a “costly” dependency on locums to fill the growing gaps in their latest report on the state of mental health services.

Committee convener Richard Leonard MSP said: “We heard the message loud and clear from those we took evidence from – this is a system under immense pressure.

“We are also concerned that not everyone who prefers face-to-face support is receiving it and call on the Scottish government to look into why there is such a significant variation in the number of face-to-face versus remote appointments across Scotland.”

Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland chairwoman Dr Jane Morris said: “We’ve known for quite some time that we have a workforce crisis on our hands.

“Our patients deserve so much better than this.

“The situation is dire because we have a high vacancy rate coupled with problems with recruitment and retention which has resulted in a postcode lottery of mental health services across the country.”

The Scottish government said it will “carefully consider” the report’s findings.