Care and treatment of eating disorders: national specification

Implementation and Quality Assurance

The Specification supports national consistency in the delivery of eating disorder treatment. It has been developed to support local implementation by services, for example, to reflect local models of delivery and partnership working.

Each outcome within the Specification includes a section that outlines examples of evidence of achievement, and what it means for organisations and staff. These have been included to support internal quality assurance against the outcome. The Specification can also be used to inform organisational self-evaluation and improvement.

It is recognised that some elements of the Specification will involve structural changes to services. It is therefore recommended that implementation occurs over a ten-year period and is initially supported by the National Eating Disorder Network, the development of which has been recommended by the National Review of Eating Disorder Services (2021). This will enable national learning and cross service support on the practical implementation of the Specification in a phased and planned manner. Implementation will need to include local, regional and national elements.