National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland - Consultation Analysis Report

15. Conclusions

Many individuals and stakeholders with detailed knowledge participated in the consultation, sharing their views on the draft National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland. Reflecting on their experience and perspectives, this report provides a high-level summary of the consultation responses. For more detail, readers are encouraged to look to individual responses where permission was given for publication^[1].

Analysis of the closed questions indicates a high level of overall support for the Specification. The vast majority of respondents agreed to some extent that the Specification will improve the experiences (89%) and outcomes (87%) of people accessing eating disorder care and treatment. Very high levels of total agreement were also recorded across each of the individual Outcomes, ranging from 78% to 95%. The highest levels of total agreement were recorded for Outcome 8: Education and training, Outcome 2: Service structure, Outcome 9: Shared and supported decision making, and Outcome 4: Supporting people with co-occurring considerations and comorbidities.

Open comments highlighted a mix of views. While respondents expressed their support for different elements of the Specification in comments across the consultation, others caveated their support by highlighting concerns, considerations, or conditions needed to effectively implement the Specification in practice. Issues frequently raised included barriers to implementation, the need for more partnership working, and the importance of monitoring, evaluation, research, and regulation. Ensuring the involvement of parents, families, and carers and those with lived experience involvement in both the design of the Specification and in care and treatment, was seen as vital.

Overall, the key message was that there is widespread support for the draft National Specification, but for this to be implemented successfully it will require significant financial investment, increased service capacity, extensive training, and more guidance around how the proposals would operate in practice. The insight gained from the consultation responses received will be used by the Scottish Government to revise and finalise the National Specification.