Care and treatment of eating disorders: national specification

Core Standards

As part of the Scottish Government's wider work to improve mental health services and care, we have developed new core mental health standards, which stem from the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. These standards set out clear expectations for what services will provide, whilst recognising the need for local flexibility, and how we will provide assurance of high-quality care. These standards are designed to be aspirational about what good mental health services should look like. We know that many of these standards will already be being implemented by services but we also recognise that some of these may take longer for services to fully deliver in the face of ongoing systems pressures. We are therefore taking a phased approach to the measurement and implementation of the standards (see Annex A). This will include a pilot that will examine the feasibility of implementing the current set of standards which will inform any future refinements.

The standards have been developed in line with the vision of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible. The core mental health standards can be accessed by clicking here: Core mental health standards – gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The diagram below shows the Core Mental Health Standards and their relationship to the Health and Social Care Standards, Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and different specifications, including eating disorders.