Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve care and treatment for people with eating disorders and (b) reduce the number of lives lost to eating disorders.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, there is a critical need to shift the treatment of eating disorders from hospital to the community. Improved care in the community will give young people early access to evidence-based treatment involving families and carers, improving outcomes and preventing relapse.

The Department is committed to learning from deaths in order to prevent future tragedies and improve the quality of care. The Department receives and responds to Prevention of Future Death reports relating to eating disorders and uses this work to inform practice. For example, the Medical Emergencies in Eating Disorders guidance was created following a coroner’s report and has since been rolled out nationwide.