National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders: a pragmatic review of a new national eating disorder service in Ireland.

The Health Service Executive National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders (NCPED) launched a Model of Care for Eating Disorder Services in Ireland in 2018. Currently, one adult and two child and adolescent eating disorder services are operational out of a total of sixteen recommended. The three objectives of this paper are to describe the early (1) referral pattern, (2) level of service activity and (3) the level of service user satisfaction. Monthly submitted service activity data from each service to the NCPED between March 2018 and October 2020 were retrospectively analysed. One hundred and fifty-nine carers and service users completed an experience of service questionnaire (ESQ). A descriptive analysis of referral pattern, level of service activity and ESQ was performed. A thematic analysis was performed on three qualitative questions on the ESQ. There was substantial referral numbers to eating disorder services by 18 months ( This preliminary service activity and service user satisfaction data highlight several issues, including trends when setting up a regional eating disorder service, potential pitfalls of pragmatic data collection and the need for adequate information-technology infrastructure.