Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to (a) raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of eating disorders and (b) encourage those with such symptoms to seek help and treatment for their condition.

NHS England commissioned a national review of adult eating disorder services in 2017, which is now complete. Data collected on activity, investment and workforce is being reviewed with stakeholders to inform NHS England’s understanding of current provision and existing levels of parity with eating disorder services for children and young people. The data is informing modelling to understand the finance and workforce gaps to achieving greater levels of parity.

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 practitioner (where most eating disorders initially present) and in more depth within training for psychiatry, particularly child and adolescent psychiatrists. This training equips doctors to identify the early potential symptoms of an eating disorder and help patients to discuss difficult issues.

This Government recognises the importance of raising awareness and reducing stigma so that more people feel able to talk about their mental health, including eating disorders, and seek treatment. That is why in January 2017, the Prime Minister committed to having mental health first aid training available to secondary schools, aiming to have trained at least one teacher in every secondary school by 2020 and to all primary schools by 2022. This Government has also provided grant funding to the Time to Change national mental health anti-stigma campaign since 2012. Time to Change works with people with experience of mental health problems, including eating disorders, to challenge stigma and to improve social attitudes towards mental health.

The Government has also committed to equip one million people to be better informed to look after their own mental health, so Public Health England is currently leading the development of a £15 million national mental health campaign called ‘Every Mind Matters’.