Treat eating disorders as an emergency, MPs urge

Lives are being lost and families torn apart because of "woefully inadequate care" for people with eating disorders, according to a group of MPs.

The "alarming" rise in disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, over the past decade, has now become an "emergency", the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders says in a report.

And greater awareness about different types of eating disorders and how they affect males and females of all ages and ethnicities is urgently needed.

The MPs, external spent six months listening to "harrowing" experiences from patients, bereaved families, clinicians and academics.

Eating disorders are often misunderstood and seen as a lifestyle choice affecting only white teenage girls, the report says. In reality, they are serious but treatable mental illnesses.

The report says services are "grossly" underfunded, there are barriers to accessing treatment and wide variations in care quality across the UK.

Campaigner Hope Virgo worries some people with long-term and complex eating disorders are being viewed as "untreatable" and "being sent home to die".

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Source: BBC News, 22 January 2025

Read the blog from Hope Virgo published on the hub today: Hope Virgo: What needs to happen to stop people with eating disorders being failed by the healthcare system?