Eating disorder waiting times will not be fully operational until 2020

Plans to introduce waiting time targets for young people to access treatment are part of a £150m investment by government in children and young people’s eating disorders services.

In July, health minister Alistair Burt said the waiting times – first announced in last December’s budget – will be implemented from 1 April 2016.

It has now emerged that the requirement for treatment to start within four weeks for "routine" and within one week for “urgent” cases will not fully come into effect until 2020.

Guidance published by NHS England on the introduction of the waiting times states that health services will not be required to meet them during 2016. Instead, the ability of services to meet the standard “will be monitored”.

“A tolerance level will be set for the percentage of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe,” the guidance states.

“Data collected in 2016 will inform trajectories for incremental percentage increases, with the aim of setting a 95 per cent tolerance level by 2020.”

Liberal Democrat MP and former government health minister Norman Lamb told CYP Now that a phased introduction of waiting times is not unusual within the health service because it is necessary to build capacity.

But he added that the aim should be to fully implement the standards well before 2020.

“It’s legitimate to have a phased introduction of any standards of this kind. This is an area that has traditionally been neglected up until now – you are not going to have perfection on day one," Lamb said.

“I accept the logic of what they are doing, but I am inpatient to get this delivered as fast as possible.

“I don’t want to wait until 2020 to get an acceptably good service across the country. I want to get there sooner than that.”

Lamb criticised the fact that the government has invested less than the expected amount this year in wider reforms to children’s mental health services as part of a £1.25bn commitment over the next five years. A total of £143m has been invested, when it was expected that £250m would be.

“The claim was that it would be hard to spend the money effectively in year one because it was half way through the year and there had just been a general election,” Lamb said.

“But I have spoken to people in health services who say the money could have been spent. I have also spoken to senior people who are concerned that the money will effectively be used to prop up hospitals this year – a grab away from mental health towards physical health.

“I’m demanding that the £107m shortfall between £143m and £250m is made good next year. That extra money will not just help eating disorders, it will help with the employment of the necessary workforce to deliver the standards.

“The government’s failure to deliver the full £250m in year one causes me real concern. To deliver [on waiting times], you need the money to invest in recruiting and training staff.”