Paediatric Eating Disorder Governance Advice Final Report by Aspex Consulting

The Government has committed $3.345 million over four years to increase the program capacity and improve services for paediatric eating disorders (including medical and clinical positions).

This initiative is being informed by the SA Health Paediatric Eating Disorder Governance Advice Report by Aspex Consulting (the Aspex Report) (PDF 2MB).

A state-wide paediatric eating disorder services Governance Committee co-chaired by the Chief Operating Officers of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) and the Women’s and Children’s Local Health Network (WCHN) is overseeing the development of a model of care which will guide the implementation of this initiative with outcomes that will:

  • make recommendations on implementing the Aspex Report
  • advise on the model of care
  • advise on the requirements, within budget, to deliver the model across inpatient and outpatient tertiary and quaternary services.

The Chief Operating Officers will also co-chair this project’s Advisory Group led by SALHN and WCHN to support the work of the Governance Committee, with both having balanced multidisciplinary representation, and lived experience membership.

Other recent developments in establishing state-wide service provision for paediatric eating disorders, for children and families in South Australia include:

  • Key findings from Chief Psychiatrist inspections outlined in the Aspex Report (section 5.1) now largely addressed
  • Greater collaboration across key services at WCHN and SALHN, than there was at the time the Aspex report was prepared, is evident in reports back from clinical staff of both services, and in joint clinical work underway. This provides a sound foundation for joint implementation going forward.
  • The new Commonwealth fee for service funding program for eating disorders has been rolled out, and this will be incorporated in revisions to the model. This will better target the SA outpatient funding to link with services funded by this new initiative. 

As the Governance group makes progress, updated information will be sent to stakeholders by email, and significant documents such as proposed models or care will be placed on the web. Feedback or comments on the SA Health Paediatric Eating Disorder Governance Advice Report or in relation to this initiative can be made via the email inbox: HealthOCP@sa.gov.au