More than 7,000 children in Scotland have been admitted to hospital over the last decade for deliberately harming themselves, new figures from the Scottish government have reported.

They also revealed admissions among the over 16s had touched a record of 160,000 since 1999.

Self-harm can range from scratching and cutting the skin to poisoning, typically begins around 14, and peaks between 16 and 25. Nearly 150,000 people get admitted in the UK every year because of self-harming, making it one of the top five causes of acute medical admission.

Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, who obtained the data through parliamentary questions, quoted that the figures were shocking and said, "That so many people have self- harmed to such an extent that hospital treatment was required, is a desperate cry for help and ministers must respond. This need to change to make sure that those who are at risk of self- harming are identified and helped in their community before they end up in hospital".

Amidst soaring figures, the public Health Minister Shona Robison revealed that an extra £5.5m would be divulged in mental health services by 2011-12, which is claimed to result in 15-20% increase in specialist staff.

The increased workforce will assist NHS boards to deliver new waiting time target for access to specialist CAMHS, so that the waiting could be reduced.