Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2018 to Question 131891, what the timescale is for the development of the adult eating disorders care pathway and the associated implementation guidance; and what plans he has for the involvement of the voluntary sector in the development of that pathway.

In line with the recommendations of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, a key focus of NHS England’s work over the next five years (until 2020/21) will be to develop evidence-based treatment pathways across mental health services.

Before NHS England can publish a pathway for adults with eating disorders it is necessary to understand the current availability of services, staffing and investment to assess the financial and workforce implications associated with closing the gap.

The publication and implementation of any guidance on improving the pathway of care for adult with eating disorders is contingent on NHS England ensuring that the necessary resources including both funding and workforce are available to support that implementation. Therefore, as a first step, we have commissioned a review of the provision, investment and workforce for delivering eating disorder services for adults. This review looks across both inpatient and community services for adults.

The voluntary sector including BEAT were involved in scoping the data collection associated with this review, and will be key partners in shaping the programme plan on adult eating disorders going forward.

NHS England has introduced new care models for specialist mental health services, where a secondary provider is in receipt of NHS England’s budget for commissioning specialised tertiary services. There are two areas of the country with adult eating disorder services new care models (West Yorkshire and Harrogate; Thames Valley and Wessex). We expect that these areas will start to make important progress in both joining up the transition from young people to adults eating disorders services, and improving the treatment and care adults receive, as close to home as possible.