Referral times for eating disorders (FOI)

​​​Request

Please advise what is the average waiting time for someone who has been referred to the eating disorder specialists at the hospital by their GP and how effective are they in treating eating disorders?

Response

All referrals for mental health services are received through the Crisis and Assessment Team, where an initial assessment is undertaken. 

Health and Community Services aim to undertake the initial assessment within 10 working days, and currently achieve this in 85.6% of cases (mean average). Frequently a delay beyond the 10 days is related to patient choice; the clinical urgency of the assessment is also considered. 

Following the initial assessment, an eating disorder referral would be passed to the Eating Disorder service for allocation.   

Documentation detailing success rates in treating eating disorders is not available and, as such, information is not held by Health and Community Services to satisfy the question posed. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Article applied

Article 3 Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if:

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.​