Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives from the General Medical Council on the implementation of the recommendations made by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s in its report entitled, Ignoring the alarms: How NHS eating disorder services are failing patients, published in December 2017.

In response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report, a working group has been set up to address the recommendations and ensure they feed into planned improvements to eating disorder services. The group meets every quarter and includes representatives from the Department and the General Medical Council (GMC)

The GMC, at the request of the Department, held a roundtable on 21 November 2019 to discuss steps to improve education, knowledge and skills in the recognition and treatment of eating disorders. The GMC is also working with the Faculty of Eating Disorders, Beat and other key stakeholders, including medical schools and Health Education England, to explore how education and training in eating disorders can be strengthened through the development of a common understanding and shared resources.