Eating Disorders

(asked on 19th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 15 February 2019 Guardian article entitled Hospital admissions for eating disorders surge to highest in eight years, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of admissions of patients with eating disorders between 2010-11 and 2017-18.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 25th February 2019

The Government is committed to ensuring everyone with an eating disorder has access to the best quality of care to meet their needs and so the National Health Service is addressing this commitment by treating more children and young people with an eating disorder than ever before.

As services improve, and as the NHS continues to identify and meet previously unmet need, this is leading to an increase in activity. The latest data shows that over four out of five young people already receive treatment within one week in urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases. This means more young people are getting the right support, at the right time, closer to home.

The NHS Long Term Plan has set out how we will build on this. NHS England’s proposals to improve care for adults include maintaining and developing new services for those who have the most complex needs. The recently published ‘NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2019/20 Annex B: Guidance for operational and activity plans: assurance statements’ to accompany the NHS Planning Guidance for 2019/20 makes clear that these services include services for adults with eating disorders.

This guidance is available at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-operational-planning-and-contracting-guidance-2019-20-annex-b-guidance-for-operational-and-activity-plans-assurance-statements/

Further detail on implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan's commitments to improve mental health services will be available when NHS England publishes its framework for implementation in the spring.

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