Eating Disorders: Prevention of Deaths

Julie Minns Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Mr Quigley]

I thank my hon. Friend for his extremely pertinent point. Early intervention saves not only lives but a huge amount in costs to the NHS.

I know the vast majority of NHS staff go above and beyond to support patients, often under immense pressure, and many of us here would like to put on record our thanks to them. However, these failures point to a systemic issue.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

One of the issues in geographically remote areas like Carlisle and Cumbria is that, sadly, the in-patient treatment for young people with eating disorders is delivered by an out-of-area NHS trust. Tragically, the inquest into the death of a young woman from my constituency earlier this year found that there had been a failure in collaboration between the two trusts, resulting, sadly, in her death. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not just a question of resource, and that we also need a culture of collaboration and patient-centred care across all our trusts if we are going to prevent deaths?

[Mr Quigley]

It is true that a lack of understanding among professionals about the severity of the problem contributes to the situation. To have it put down to a lack of collaboration would be infuriating for that parent, as well as truly tragic.

We know well by now that early intervention is crucial for identifying and supporting recovery in patients with eating disorders. However, as a parent of someone affected, I must say that has not been my experience on the ground. Hospital admissions for eating disorders have surged, exceeding 30,000 for the first time in 2023-24, which is a 60% increase compared with pre-pandemic levels. While the NHS struggles to meet this growing demand, private equity firms are profiting from the crisis by owning many of the in-patient units the NHS depends on.