Almost half of under-18s wait three months for eating disorder treatment

Almost half of the children and young people in need of urgent care for eating disorders in England are waiting more than three months to begin NHS treatment, analysis has suggested.

The Children’s Commissioner for England has looked at NHS figures for eating disorders in those aged under 18.

It found there were about 11,800 patients in that age group being treated for eating disorders in 2022/23, up from 5,240 in 2016/17.

In urgent cases, 45% of patients were waiting more than 12 weeks to start treatment, up from 16% in 2016/17.

In a 2015 guide, the NHS set a standard to ensure that by 2020/21 95% of children and young people with eating disorders begin treatment within one week for urgent cases and four weeks for non-urgent cases.

Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said: “It’s worrying that children and young people are facing increasingly long waits for treatment for eating disorders – which are often serious and potentially life-threatening.

“Young people deserve timely access to effective care.”

The analysis also found the number of young people requiring hospital treatment for an eating disorder rose to 24,300 in 2020/21, 84% higher than in 2016/17.

The “vast majority” were young women and girls, the Children’s Commissioner said, although admissions of young men almost doubled to 909 in 2020/21.

Dame Rachel called on the Government to “focus on tackling some of the potential drivers of disordered eating”.

“Children need to be robustly protected from harmful eating disorder content online which can drive body image issues,” she added.

Tom Quinn, director of external affairs at eating disorder charity Beat, said the figures “should set alarm bells ringing for the Government and NHS commissioners”.

He added: “It’s completely unacceptable that children and young people are waiting so long for treatment, even in urgent cases as the risk of a longer or more complicated recovery increases with every day that passes.”

Kieran Lyons from Childline said the charity delivered 4,000 counselling sessions dealing with eating disorders last year.

He said: “Comparing themselves to their friends and people on social media, feeling guilt around eating ‘bad foods’, receiving negative comments about their body and trying to manage their weight through extreme forms of fitness are some of the things that children told Childline.”

Dame Rachel said she hopes the Government’s Major Conditions Strategy is a “critical moment” in addressing the issue of eating disorders in young people.

The Government launched a call for evidence for its Major Conditions Strategy in May 2023.

The blueprint will look at how to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses in six groups – cancer, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, musculoskeletal disorders and mental ill health.

“I hope that in merging the Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan with other major conditions in this strategy, the focus on children’s mental health is not diluted,” she added.

NHS Providers’ deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery called for “significant, long-term investment in and support for prevention and early intervention services to help children and young people sooner”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We’re boosting capacity at children and young people’s community eating disorder services across the country – allowing them to treat nearly 50% more young people in 2022/23 than 2019/20.

“We’re also investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in NHS mental health services by March 2024, so more adults, children and young people in England get vital support quicker.”