Will the Minister publish a plan with timescales for achieving the vision of the 2018 eating disorder service review, so that everyone affected can access effective help?
Given the breadth and scale of the independent review, we have been clear about the need to take a phased approach to service improvement, in line with its recommendations.
The first phase of this work commenced in 2019 with additional Welsh Government funding being provided to support improvements across eating disorder services, including through increasing community treatment and support, broadening early intervention services and shorter waiting times. In line with the recommendations from the 2018 review, services were asked to:
- Reconfigure services towards earlier intervention.
- Work towards achieving the NICE standards on Eating Disorders within two years.
- Develop plans to achieve a four week waiting times across adult and child services as recommended in the review.
Eating Disorder services have been impacted significantly by the pandemic and the NHS has needed to focus on remaining accessible and responding to changing needs during these unprecedented circumstances. We have also increased our investment in support provided by the third sector to ensure support remains available.
Officials are now working with the NHS Collaborative to agree our plan to continue the ongoing improvement of NHS eating disorder services in line with the independent review. I have been clear that this is an area that must be supported by further funding from the additional £50million that we have secured in the draft budget for mental health and well-being for 2022/23 onwards.