NHS admissions for eating disorders have almost doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic and the All Party Parliamentary Group calls for a national strategy and additional funding. 

A new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on eating disorders highlights what it calls the urgent need for a national strategy to address the growing eating disorder crisis in the UK. 

“What was already a struggling support system for those affected by eating disorders has collapsed under pressure,” writes Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse in the introduction. 

NHS admissions for eating disorders have almost doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic – from 19,000 to 30,000 last year. 

The report is damning. People face significant barriers to accessing treatment, it says. Healthcare providers are insufficiently trained, care pathways are fragmented and there is a lack of standardised data around eating disorders. More to the point, there is a postcode lottery in service provision which leads to patients at times being discharged from services with dangerously low BMIs.

A postcode lottery for treatment 

Responding to the report, Kerrie Jones, chief executive and founder of specialist eating disorder clinic Orri, damned its findings. 

“The report’s findings resonate deeply and sadly reflect what we see every day on the frontline of eating disorder care: sufferers and families struggling to access timely, effective treatment and left feeling unseen by the system, navigating a postcode lottery for treatment,” she said. 

The report brings to light the stark reality of funding inequalities, she continued, emphasising that adult services receive, on average, less than one-third per capita of the funding allocated to services for children and young people – despite the new onset of eating disorders occurring in adults in around half of cases. 

The report calls for both a national strategy for eating disorders and additional funding for eating disorder services which should address the demand for both adult and children’s services. At the same time, research funding should be increased for eating disorders to enhance treatment outcomes and ultimately discover a cure for eating disorders. 

“We fully support the report’s call for comprehensive reform and stand ready to continue working alongside policymakers, clinicians and charities to ensure that recovery is truly accessible to all,” said Jones.