Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the difference in (a) treatments available and (b) waiting times between adult and children's services for patients with eating disorders.
Answer: Jackie Doyle-Price:
Recommended treatments for eating disorders are set out in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, ‘Eating disorders: recognition and treatment’. The guideline makes it clear where there are particular treatments or considerations for children and young people. It is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG69
To find out more about the treatment available for children and young people, Health Education England has commissioned NHS Benchmarking to collect data on the provision, workforce capacity and skills, and activity of services delivering mental health care. This collection will provide information on the treatments delivered, including by community eating disorder services.
Data on waiting times from referral to starting treatment for children and young people with an eating disorder are published every quarter at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cyped-waiting-times/
Data from the last quarter (October-December 2018) shows that 80.7% of urgent cases start treatment within one week and 86.8% of non-urgent cases starts treatment within four weeks.
