Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many inpatient beds are available to the NHS for eating disorder patients in (1) England, (2) the North of England, (3) the Midlands and East of England, (4) London, and (5) the South of England; and, for each of those regions, how many are available for (a) children and young people, and (b) adults.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the information requested on specialised inpatient beds for eating disorder patients:
| England | North of England | Midlands and East of England | London | South of England |
Children and young people | 238 | 27 | 125 | 50 | 36 |
Adults | 400 | 129 | 97 | 99 | 75 |
Total | 638 | 156 | 222 | 149 | 111 |
Source: NHS England
Notes:
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish their plan for autism research, as outlined in the National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults, published on 22 July 2021.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We plan to publish the Autism Research Action Plan in summer 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the feasibility of a 'stepped care' system for autistic people to identify and address new support needs in a timely manner.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No specific assessment has been made. However, in 2019 the public call for evidence to inform the development of the autism strategy sought views on autistic people’s access to post-diagnosis support as an element of a stepped care system. This found that 34% of autistic respondents and 46% of carer respondents said they did not receive support after diagnosis.
In 2021/22, we provided £31 million to improve community services for autistic people and people with a learning disability services. This included £7 million to test and implement timely, quality autism diagnosis and post-diagnosis pathways. Additionally, we are investing £69 million in 2022/2023 to prevent avoidable admissions and improve community support for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders report Breaking the Cycle: an inquiry into eating disorder research funding in the UK, published on 15 September.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has been made. However, we are carefully considering the report’s recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that providers of the proposed new weight management services (1) receive training on eating disorders, and (2) can work with eating disorder services to appropriately support those requiring treatment for binge eating disorder.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Further details about the measures on weight management announced in Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives will be available later in the year.
Diagnosing and treating eating disorders is an important area of medical practice. It is included within the curriculum for training all doctors, including for general practitioners, where most eating disorders initially present and in more depth within training for psychiatry, particularly child and adolescent psychiatrists.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many independent sector beds are used by the NHS for the treatment of patients with eating disorders in (1) England, (2) the North of England, (3) the Midlands and East of England, (4) London, and (5) the South of England; how many such beds in each region are for (a) children and young people, and (b) adults; and what was the cost of procuring those beds in each region.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The data is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many inpatient beds are available to the NHS for eating disorder patients in (1) England, (2) the North of England, (3) the Midlands and East of England, (4) London, and (5) the South of England; and, for each of those categories, how many are available for (a) children and young people, and (b) adults.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The following table provides data on the number of inpatient beds for eating disorders for adults and for children and young people.
| Total bed base | Adult eating disorder beds | Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services eating disorder beds1 |
England | 648 (national total) | 400 | 248 |
North of England (North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber) | 157 | 129 | 28 |
Midlands and East of England | 203 | 97 | 106 |
London | 162 | 99 | 63 |
South of England (including Wessex) | 126 | 75 | 51 |
Source: NHS England
Note:
1Some children and young people with eating disorders are treated in general child and adolescent mental health services.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure local NHS People Plans include a mental health workforce strategy to reduce vacancy rates, retain staff and create the new roles needed to fulfil their proposals on mental health.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Supporting and expanding the mental health workforce is a key priority for this Government. The interim NHS People Plan set out the immediate actions we will take to fill vacancies and secure the staff we need for the future.
The full NHS People Plan will set out a new operating model for workforce and systematic actions to ensure healthy, inclusive and compassionate cultures for all staff working in the National Health Service, both improving staff experience and enhancing retention.
Alongside this, NHS England and NHS Improvement will work closely with all local sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems to refine and improve their existing mental health workforce plans and develop robust plans to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their response to the Seventeenth Report of Session 2017–19 by the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (HC855) on 23 September, how many sites have been selected to "pump prime" innovative models of service for adults with eating disorders; and where those test sites will be.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England and NHS Improvement are providing ‘pump prime’ funding to 12 pilot sites over 2019/20 and 2020/21 to test and implement new models of integrated primary and community mental health care for adults and older adults with a range of severe mental illnesses. Eight of these will test models that include services for adult eating disorders, including:
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- Hertfordshire and West Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- North East London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- North West London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership;
- Somerset Sustainability and Transformation Partnership; and
- South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System
These sites will work towards improving access to care for adults and older adults with eating disorders in line with published guidance from NHS England and NHS Improvement. They will also generate the first phase of learning about how to achieve greater levels of parity with children and young people’s eating disorder services over the course of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many inpatient beds are available to the NHS for eating disorder patients in (1) England, (2) the North of England, (3) the Midlands and East of England, (4) London, and (5) the South of England; and, for each of those categories, how many are available for (a) children and young people, and (b) adults.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The following table provides data on the number of inpatient beds for eating disorders for children and young people and adults.
Type of inpatient bed | North of England | South of England | Midlands and East of England | London | England |
Children and adolescent mental health service eating disorder1 | 40 | 45 | 108 | 56 | 249 |
Adult eating disorder | 110 | 67 | 103 | 120 | 400 |
Source: NHS England
Note:
1Some children and young people with eating disorders are treated in general child and adolescent mental health services.