The National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders was published by the Scottish Government in November 2024. It sets out an ambitious ten-year plan for the improvement of services.
Although it’s comprehensive, the Specification’s medical and professional language means that it isn’t easy to read. We worked with the Scottish Government and with our Scottish panel of experts by experience to create this more accessible version. We hope that it helps people in Scotland better understand the changes that are happening and supports them in speaking up for the treatment they need and deserve.
I was part of the Beat Lived Experience Panel involved in the co-production of this version of the Specification. We worked with staff from Beat and the Scottish Government to review drafts and using our unique and collective lived experience, provide feedback to help ensure the document was fit for purpose.
Members spent time considering the document in their own time, noting their reflections before coming together as a group once a month to discuss and agree suggested changes.
After our Panel-only discussions, the Chair of the National Eating Disorders Network joined the meeting to hear our thoughts. It was great to be able to discuss these with the Chair in real time and provide context for why each change had been suggested. The Chair was really receptive to our suggestions and this made a big difference to how engaged and valued panel members felt. It also helped ensure a range of different parent and carer related needs and issues were represented in the final document.
A key consideration for the panel was that the Specification was inclusive and accessible to all. Panel members are from across Scotland and include people from both urban and rural settings. They are from a range of age groups and life experiences, and a diversity of eating disorders are represented. We spent a lot of time reflecting as a group on how things like the language and structure used in the report could be as simple and engaging as possible. It’s important that anyone who may benefit from reading them is not deterred from doing so and we hope we’ve achieved that.
You can read the National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders on our website.