Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services

(asked on 28th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average time people waited to begin treatment for eating disorders in 2018-19.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 3rd July 2019

Waiting times standards for eating disorder treatment are currently only available for children and young people. NHS England is on track to deliver the waiting time standard for children and young people by 2020/21. The latest available information (January – March 2019) shows:

- 80.6% of young people started treatment for an urgent case within one week against a target of 95% by 2020/21; and

- 82.4% of young people started treatment for a routine case within four weeks against a target of 95% by 2020/21.

The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to test four-week waiting times for adult and older adult community mental health teams, with selected local areas that will include eating disorders. We are also investing in new models of care focusing on early intervention and prevention which will ultimately reduce the need for inpatient beds and ensure that people receive treatment in the most appropriate place. By improving care in the community, we can improve outcomes and recovery, reduce rates of relapse or prevent eating disorders continuing into adulthood and, if admission is required as a very last resort, reduce lengths of stay.

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