On average, UK medical students receive less than two hours of teaching on eating disorders throughout their entire medical degree. Even more concerningly, a fifth of medical schools do not include eating disorders at all in their teaching.
Given that 1 in 50 people in the UK suffer from an eating disorder, and around 5% of the population will be affected at some point in their lifetime, this is something that needs to change.
This week is Eating Disorders Awareness Week and Beat Eating Disorders are campaigning for UK medical schools to introduce comprehensive training on eating disorders to their programmes.
Eating disorders are highly complex mental illnesses, but they are treatable. Just two hours of training is not enough time to equip medical students with the knowledge to identify the signs and symptoms and provide the necessary support to help sufferers access the most appropriate treatment at the earliest opportunity.
Source: Beat Eating Disorders
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