Let Us See Action in Response to Recommendations

Today saw the full publication of the Scottish Eating Disorder Service Review, featuring a number of key recommendations.

As an organisation actively supporting individuals and families in the heart of Scotland, you can imagine we were keen to appraise the detail and understand exactly how agencies and politicians might intend to enhance the current offering.

Broadly, let us start by saying we are pleased and hopeful.

The recommendations cover a great breadth of the issues we talk about frequently within our community, including:

• Education of healthcare professionals
• Full and thorough data collection
• Maximising the use of the ‘lived experience’ voice
• Recruitment and retention to eating disorder services
• Consistent high patient-focused standards
• Investment
• Increased family support
• Equity of inpatient provision
• Research
• Resources for all
• Focus on early intervention

The timing of this report is particularly significant.

While it was announced in March 2020 – at a time when none of us could possibly have known what the full scale and severity of Covid might have been on the nation – it has been carried out against this backdrop, and concludes its summary at a time when the pandemic has accelerated eating disorder rates to a devastating extent.

You’ll not be the least bit surprised to hear that we, as a voluntary sector service in the field of eating disorders, were particularly keen to see what would be discussed about A) investment, and B) partnership and collaboration which includes the world of charity and third sector providers.

On investment, it is stated that:

The Scottish Government should commission and fund equitable provision of high-quality accessible specialist community-based services for eating disorders across Scotland for all ages, which see all types of eating disorders across the range of severity.

And furthermore:

Scottish Government should provide funding to the Third Sector to build platforms and a range of community services to enable the Scottish public to have free access to evidence-based self-help/management programmes and supports, including peer support networks.

You can be sure that we will be tracking every step of the roadmap for implementation of such activity and investment, not least because we already operate across Scotland and are ready, willing and waiting to play our part in helping serve more individuals and families – alongside contributing to robust education and understanding within professional groups, schools and the community at large.

If you have a specific interest in knowing more about our work in Scotland, or perhaps you’re involved in this review and wish to talk further to us about our voluntary sector contribution, we welcome your correspondence.