Care and treatment of eating disorders - national specification: consultation

Outcome 8: Education and Training

Outcome Statement

Organisations demonstrate commitment to the education and training of all staff involved in eating disorder services, appropriate to roles and workplace settings.

Rationale

To ensure that eating disorder health care is safe, effective, and person-centred, all staff should have access to high-quality skills and competency-based training, supervision, and opportunities for personal development (National Review of Eating Disorder Services, 2021). This training should enable a specialist eating disorder team to effectively deliver evidence-based treatment and care aligned with SIGN (2022) and MEED (2022). Living and lived experience voices should be embedded at every level of training and its delivery via experts by experience. The National Eating Disorder Network would be well placed to deliver this training in collaboration with training and education providers.

High-quality care, treatment, and support should be delivered by an appropriately trained and well-supported multi-disciplinary team equipped to provide the diverse range of interventions required to support individuals with eating disorders.

Outcome in Action

8.1 The organisation implements a comprehensive and multifaceted education and training programme that:

• includes an assessment of staff training needs that is responsive to staff roles, responsibilities, and workplace setting
• supports continuous professional development
• promotes the use of quality improvement methods and tools
• is aligned to professional development frameworks
• embeds the voices of people with living and lived experience, and
• includes an evaluation of the provision, quality, and uptake of training.

8.2 Comprehensive training plans are developed to ensure that continuous professional development for eating disorder services is available to clinical and non-clinical staff in public-facing roles.

8.3 Staff are supported to access and attend training and education (including continuous professional development) appropriate to their roles and are allocated appropriate time and resources to participate.

8.4 Staff have access to training which includes:

• An overview of eating disorder presentations, risk factors, comorbid and co-occurring considerations, and treatment
• medical monitoring and risk assessment/management aligned with MEED (2022)
• SIGN (2022) recommended treatment and associated therapy specific supervision
• delivering person-centred care and support for individuals with comorbidity and co-occurring considerations
• the Mental Health Act (2003)
• trauma-informed care
• responsive engagement mechanisms for people and their representatives, where appropriate, and
• safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.

8.5 Organisations support staff to attend and participate in relevant training, support, and supervision.

What does this mean for the person receiving care?

You can be confident that:

• you are receiving care from individuals with a high level of training in effective and safe treatment approaches, and
• you will be treated with respect and compassion, listened to, and fully supported to make informed choices.

What does this mean for staff?

Staff:

• can access and attend role appropriate training and supervision to enable the effective and safe delivery of treatment and care
• maintain the required competencies and qualifications for their roles and responsibilities, and
• know their role within multi-disciplinary teams and are supported to fulfil their responsibilities.

What does this mean for the organisation?

The organisation:

• implements a comprehensive and multifaceted education and training programme that is aligned with the requirements of MEED (2022) and SIGN (2022) and supports staff to complete this training, and
• evaluates the provision, quality, and uptake of training, and ensures staff have capacity to undertake relevant training.

Practical examples of evidence of achievement (Note: this list is not exhaustive)

• Regular review and assessment of training needs and mapped to MEED (2022) and SIGN (2022).
• Regular feedback and audit on the quality and uptake of provided training.