Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of specialist day care provision and home-based treatment for eating disorders, as compared to inpatient treatment for (1) children and young people, and (2) adults.

NHS England is refreshing guidance on children and young people's eating disorders, with an increased focus on early identification and intervention. Updated guidance will highlight the importance of improved integration between community eating disorder services, wider children and young people's mental health services, schools, colleges and primary care. This will improve awareness, provide expert advice and improve support for children and young people presenting with problems with eating.

In 2019, NHS England published an addendum to the national Children and Young People’s Eating Disorder Guidance to include guidance on integration between community eating disorder services and inpatient and day care services, noting that “children and young people should be treated as close to home as possible, at the earliest opportunity, to substantially reduce the need for admission and length of stay”.

In 2022/23, 47% more children and young people have started National Institute for Health and Care Excellence concordant evidence-based treatment in the community, compared to 2019/20.

For adults, National Health Service guidance on intensive day patient treatment and home-based treatment outlines that intensive day patient treatment provides step-down care from inpatient treatment or an alternative to admission.

It may be provided by either an inpatient unit or a community eating disorder (CED) service, at least four to five times a week, and should include support around main meals as well as encouraging people to learn skills and engage in activities that contribute towards their recovery. Integrated working across day patient and CED services can help support people to live in the community and prevent relapse or readmission.