Hansard

I am pleased to respond to the debate on behalf of the Scottish Government. It is right that we hold this debate each year to mark eating disorders awareness week, as it allows us to raise awareness of eating disorders and the terrible impacts that they can have not just on those who are diagnosed but on their family and friends.

I want to acknowledge a few people, in particular, for their work in continuing to raise the profile of this devastating illness. First, I thank Emma Harper for lodging the motion and for continuing to focus minds on how important the subject of eating disorders is. That includes her continued work to raise awareness of eating disorders in relation to diabetes and to draw our attention to the important work that Diabetes Scotland does to help people who have, or who are at risk of developing, an eating disorder.

As I mentioned last year, I want to continue to honour our former colleague Dennis Robertson. Dennis opened many of these debates in the past, and I want to assure him that we will continue to fight for the right help and support to be available across Scotland.

I thank Beat, which continues to campaign tirelessly to raise awareness of eating disorders and to provide guidance and support for those with an eating disorder and their families and friends. I know that representatives from Beat are in the public gallery, and I hope that they are heartened by the cross-party interest in their work.

Lastly, I extend my thanks to those people across the country who work day in and day out to improve the lives of those with an eating disorder and their families.

On Monday, I visited NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to mark the start of eating disorders awareness week and to announce the Government’s commitment to a national review of eating disorder services, which I will return to later in my speech. I was really moved and inspired by what I heard during that visit. I spoke to young people and their families to hear about the support that they had received from the Connect-ED service, and two things were very clear. The first was the life-changing impact that our NHS staff can have on young people and their families, and the second was the fact that recovery from eating disorders is possible. It was a common theme throughout the visit that, even when things are at their darkest, the right help and support can make the world of difference.

Last year’s debate focused on tackling discrimination and breaking down the stereotypes that are associated with eating disorders, and many of the members who have spoken in this evening’s debate also spoke in that debate. As I outlined last year, eating disorders do not discriminate—anyone can be affected by them. They are serious illnesses that can change the lives not just of the people who are directly impacted by them but of those who care for and support them. That is why the theme of this year’s awareness week is incredibly important. This year, Beat is raising awareness of eating disorders and the support that it can provide to anyone who is affected. In particular, Beat wants to highlight the impact that eating disorders have on families, friends and everyone who cares for people with such a disorder. As we have heard, approximately 1.25 million people in the UK live with an eating disorder, but many more lives are impacted by each individual illness, and it is crucial that we recognise that.

Beat wants to highlight the fact that people with eating disorders are much more likely to recover with the support of family and friends. However, we need to ensure that people who support individuals with an eating disorder are also provided with appropriate support and information. That was another of the recurring themes that I heard during my visit to Connect-ED on Monday—the power of peer support, especially for parents, was brought up time and time again. Knowing that someone else is going through the same thing can be transformative, and the families to whom I spoke only wish that there had been more such support available.

That is one of the reasons why, last year, we committed to an expansion of NHS Lothian’s and Beat’s national digital peer support service for people with an eating disorder. We also launched Echo, which is a telephone coaching service for parents and carers. Through hundreds of hours of telephone support and emails over the past year, those support services have ensured that young people and their parents and carers have been provided with the support and guidance that they have required.

I have mentioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to a national review of eating disorder services, which is a game-changing piece of work that I hope is supported by all members across the chamber. We will build on the work of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, which is currently conducting themed visits of eating disorder services across Scotland and will publish its report in the summer this year. That will include a review of adult services and child and adolescent mental health services as well as out-patient, NHS and independent eating disorder care in Scotland.

Following the publication of that report, we will begin our six-month review, which will be independently led and will cover eating disorder services for adults and young people from the age of 12 upwards. It will conduct a needs assessment of the services that are provided by the third sector and community eating disorder support across Scotland, and it will make recommendations for a best-practice structure for specialist eating disorder services in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. It will also make recommendations on what age limit—if any—there should be for an eating disorder service.

We will make a further announcement about who will lead the review in due course. Our ambition is that the review will inform a second phase of investment and improvement work following the publication of its report in early 2021.

I want to talk about the excellent contributions that we have heard.

Emma Harper raised the issue of social media. We will publish social media and screen-time guidance in the coming weeks. That guidance has been developed by young people for young people, and the advice will include advice on the impact that social media can have on young people’s body images.

Angela Constance gave a very moving and concerning account of a constituent’s experience of services. She has written to me, and I will write back to her in due course. On the back of what I heard from parents and carers on Monday at Connect-ED and from Angela Constance’s constituent’s experience, I have also undertaken to write to the Royal College of General Practitioners, to discuss how we can work together to raise awareness in primary care settings of eating disorders, their signs and symptoms, and their diagnosis and treatment.

Alexander Stewart made a very considered speech, and Kenneth Gibson spoke about his passion for raising awareness of eating disorders over many years.

David Stewart gave us a very important and pertinent lesson in recognising the contribution of families, carers and friends to the recovery process.

I thank David Torrance for his measured contribution and his congratulations on the fine work that is being done by his local NHS board.

I again thank Emma Harper, Beat and everyone else who is involved in campaigning for the right help and support to always be available for anyone who is affected by an eating disorder. I assure them that they have the Government’s full support.