Eating Disorder Awareness

Danny Kruger Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire) (Con)]

I acknowledge and thank the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) for her long campaign on this topic, for securing this debate and for all that she has done and will probably have to continue to do on this agenda for a while. I entirely endorse the campaign and the things that need to happen that she and the hon. Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) have outlined.

Eating disorders present an utter tragedy to families and to young people. Last week I met a family in my constituency whose daughter is in the grip of anorexia. We had a long conversation about both the services available and the nature of the illness itself. I asked the simple question, “What is anorexia and where does it come from?” Despite the extent of their experience and all the reading they have done, it was a very difficult question to answer. The answer included that it is like an addiction, or has the qualities of an addiction. There is apparently a genetic component, and a link with autism. As the hon. Member for Bath suggested, there is a clear element of social contagion—her points about social media are extremely important. It strikes me that in many ways anorexia is an illness of modernity. It is a consequence of the pressures that young people and, indeed, older people can face in this very difficult world we live in. That suggests that a multiplicity of responses are appropriate.

I pay tribute not just to colleagues here, on the APPG and across the House who campaign on this issue, but to campaigners from outside Parliament, including Chelsea Roff, Hope Virgo, Agnes Ayton and others, whom I have got to know in the last couple of years. I honour their expertise and commitment.

As the hon. Member for Bath said, and as cannot be pointed out too often, eating disorders, and anorexia in particular, are treatable illnesses. The services are in absolute crisis, as we have heard, but we should never lose sight of the fact that the illnesses are treatable. There is clearly desperate confusion in the NHS between the physical and mental dimensions, particularly when it comes to the extreme acute phase of anorexia. We know it is the most dangerous mental illness in terms of the tragedy of death. There is clearly a lot to do in reconciling the mental and physical sides of our health service.

The hon. Member for Bath and I are on different sides on this, and the Minister and I have been debating it over the last month or so, but I have to acknowledge my concern about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Currently, there are patients in our NHS who are diagnosed with eating disorders—anorexia in particular—who are categorised as terminally ill by the system and put on a palliative care pathway, because the system decides that their condition is not in fact treatable. It is scandalous and tragic that people who have a condition that is eminently treatable are categorised as terminally ill.

My great concern is that if we were to pass that Bill, we would end up with people being diagnosed as eligible for an assisted death. It is important to acknowledge that in other countries that have assisted dying laws, our understanding is that, in all those jurisdictions, people with anorexia have qualified for and been given an assisted death. In 100% of the cases that we know about, they passed the capacity test that we would apply here in our country. That is my great concern.

[Wera Hobhouse]

It is important that we stress that an eating disorder is not a terminal illness and therefore should not fall under that legislation. I know that the hon. Gentleman and I agree on that; I think we disagree on his worries about how it would be treated, practically, in the future. An eating disorder is not a terminal illness.

[Danny Kruger]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady, and I entirely agree. It is vital to stress that point, and I am sure the Minister agrees.

I agree with the hon. Lady and the hon. Member for Salford that we need a complete reformation of the system—I will not repeat the points of the campaign, which I endorse. I am deeply concerned about the prospect of cuts to eating disorder services. It is a great shame that the proportion of NHS spending on mental health is declining. That is very significant.

I pay tribute to the sufferers—these amazing people who battle through this awful illness. They are mostly girls but also young men—I know a young man who is still in the grip of the condition. And I pay tribute to their families. I emphasise, as I am sure the hon. Member for Bath would, given her experience, that there is hope. We must not give up on these young people. We must absolutely provide the services that are needed. We need to get our systems and our society right.