National Review of Eating Disorder Services Implementation Group minutes: June 2022

Attendees and apologies

Co-chairs

• Dr Charlotte Oakley
• Dennis Robertson

Members

• Dr Annabel Ross
• Dr Joy Olver
• Dr Karen McMahon
• Dr Paula Collin
• Susan Hynes
• Dr Lesley Pillans
• Diane Kane
• Dr Helen Smith
• Johnathan Maclennan
• Alisa Stein
• Officials from the Scottish Government (SG) were also in attendance

Apologies

• Fiona Duffy
• Fiona Huffer
• Dr Annabel Ross
• Dr Helen Smith
• Johnathan MacLennan

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions from co-chairs

The chairs opened the sixth meeting of the national review of eating disorder services implementation group and welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies for the meeting were noted. Unfortunately the minister for mental health and social care was unable to attend this meeting. An invitation would be extended to the minister for the next meeting in July.

Approval of previous meeting minutes

The chairs highlighted to members that the minutes from the previous meeting were shared by email and asked for final confirmation that members were content. Members confirmed they were happy for the minutes to be published online.

Discussion on Application for Lead of the Lived Experience Panel

The secretariat provided a presentation on the application received to establish the lived experience panel. It was noted that only one application was received, from beat the national eating disorder charity. The application had been reviewed by SG officials for due diligence and the presentation highlighted the benefits and the possible areas of concern/or where further clarity was required.

Discussion on national eating disorder network

An outline of the national network had been circulated. This outline was based on the group’s previous discussions. The inclusion of nominated leads for different areas of work was welcomed as this would help to ensure continued momentum and focus as well balancing out workload. The focus for recruitment would be on core skills rather than on job professions and these positions would be part time secondments. It was agreed that it would be challenging for some NHS boards to be able to support secondments due to present extreme pressure on staff. It could also be difficult for staff to balance their work commitments and wellbeing as in many cases the ability of boards to backfill secondments is limited.

It was noted that smaller boards could be disproportionately disadvantaged as they do not have the workforce to provide secondments. It would be the responsibility of the lead to ensure that views from across the country were sought.

Discussion on implementation of SIGN guidelines

The new SIGN guidelines were published in January. Alisa Stein from healthcare improvement Scotland stated that HIS would welcome the group’s views on whether an audit of health boards' experiences in implementing the new guidelines would be appropriate at this point. It was agreed that this would be a worthwhile exercise and that this should be carried jointly with HIS and the Scottish government.

AOB and close of meeting

quality standards workgroup: members of the group who were not able to attend the meeting last week were encouraged to volunteer for editing duties for the new standards being drafted.

Calories on menus: the Scottish government consultation on the mandatory labelling of calories on menus was still open and a link would be circulated to members after the meeting.