Health: Eating Disorders

Debate between Baroness Parminter and Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Parminter]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking following the reported rise in hospital admissions for eating disorders.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford) (Con)]

My Lords, the latest figures show that young people with an eating disorder are getting more of the support and treatment that they need than ever before. As part of the NHS long-term plan’s investment of an extra £2.3 billion a year by 2023-24, eating disorder services are being ramped up across England. This is on top of the £30 million each year announced in 2014, supporting 70 teams delivering care to thousands more young people with eating disorders.

[Baroness Parminter (LD)]

NHS figures show that 19,000 people required hospitalisation for eating disorders in England last year. That figure is more than double what it was a decade ago. With only 649 in-patient beds in the NHS in England to treat people with eating disorders, does the Minister agree that the resources to tackle this worrying mental health crisis are too scarce?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Baroness, I know, has personal expertise in this area, and I thank her for her Question. As she knows, we have taken seriously trying to expand and improve eating disorder services in the country. We have invested the extra £30 million in community care and introduced the new waiting time standard, which we are on target to meet. But she is right to say that we need to improve in-patient care as well, and we are working hard to deliver on that.