Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult eating disorder beds there were in the NHS in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The following table shows the number of National Health Service commissioned inpatient beds for adult eating disorder services. Bed numbers can vary throughout the year as units close and new ones open. These figures are therefore the average number of beds across the year. Bed numbers for adult inpatient eating disorder beds for 2022/23 are based on the last validated data in 2021/22. The data provided is held within internal data management systems and not available publicly. NHS England does not hold reliable data for 2016 and prior.
Service | Adult eating disorder |
2017/18 | 397 |
2018/19 | 388 |
2019/20 | 400 |
2020/21 | 400 |
2021/22 | 400 |
2022/23 | 400 |
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to reduce the potential impact of publishing calorific content on menus on people with eating disorders.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Coventry South on 25 October 2022 to Question 64353.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children being admitted to A&E with an (a) primary and (b) secondary diagnosis of malnutrition per (i) month and (ii) year.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS Digital has provided a count of Emergency Care Data Set attendances where a primary or secondary diagnosis of malnutrition was recorded and the patient was aged under 0-17 years old, for each month between April 2021 and November 2022 in England. This information is provided in the table below.
Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | ||||
Year | Month | Primary diagnosis | Secondary Only | All diagnosis |
2021 | April | 12 | 7 | 19 |
2021 | May | 28 | 2 | 30 |
2021 | June | 20 | 8 | 28 |
2021 | July | 21 | 2 | 23 |
2021 | August | 29 | 10 | 39 |
2021 | September | 25 | 5 | 30 |
2021 | October | 25 | 2 | 27 |
2021 | November | 20 | 7 | 27 |
2021 | December | 22 | 1 | 23 |
2022 | January | 15 | 3 | 18 |
2022 | February | 17 | 4 | 21 |
2022 | March | 16 | 4 | 20 |
2022* | April | 27 | 2 | 29 |
2022* | May | 29 | 6 | 35 |
2022* | June | 19 | 4 | 23 |
2022* | July | 22 | 1 | 23 |
2022* | August | 19 | 2 | 21 |
2022* | September | 13 | 2 | 15 |
2022* | October | 19 | 1 | 20 |
2022* | November | 26 | 7 | 33 |
Source: Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS), NHS Digital
(* provisional data)
Some health conditions can lead to malnutrition in some children. This includes eating disorders, although malnutrition itself is not an eating disorder. Through the NHS Long-Term Plan, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year since 2016, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of children and young people's community eating disorder teams across the country.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to remove age specific transition points between adolescent and adult services for young people with eating disorders for continuity of care.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England is developing whole pathway models of care for children and young people and adults with eating disorders with the aim of ensuring fewer inpatient admissions by 2024/25. Transition between services is being considered as part of this.
NHS England has also commissioned Academic Health Science Networks to take forward a project on transitions between children and young people’s services and adults’ services. The project seeks to map national and international best practice, with an aim to showcase a range of evidence-based approaches via an e-learning webinar that will be available to children and young people’s eating disorder services and adult eating disorder services across England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) babies and (b) children have been admitted to hospital with malnutrition in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS Digital has provided a count of finished hospital admissions [1] for primary [2] and primary or secondary diagnosis [3] of 'malnutrition' for patients aged under one year old and 1-17 years old in England in each month between December 2021 - November 2022, (provisional data April-November 2022). This information is provided in the table below.
Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | |||||
|
| Primary Diagnosis | Primary or Secondary diagnosis | ||
Year | Month | Under 1 yrs | 1 - 17 yrs | Under 1 yrs | 1 - 17 yrs |
2021 | December | - | 4 | 1 | 36 |
2022 | January | - | 4 | 1 | 18 |
2022 | February | 1 | 3 | 1 | 26 |
2022 | March | - | 2 | - | 18 |
2022 | April | - | 3 | - | 19 |
2022 | May | - | 3 | 2 | 27 |
2022 | June | 1 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
2022 | July | 1 | 5 | 2 | 24 |
2022 | August | 2 | 5 | 2 | 25 |
2022 | September | - | 1 | 1 | 29 |
2022 | October | - | 8 | - | 21 |
2022 | November | - | 3 | - | 18 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital
Some health conditions can lead to malnutrition in some children. This includes eating disorders, although malnutrition itself is not an eating disorder. Through the NHS Long-Term Plan, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year since 2016, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of children and young people's community eating disorder teams across the country.
Notes
[1] A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.
[2] The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.
[3] The number of episodes where this diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
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 support people with eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we will invest almost £1 billion extra in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness by 2023/24. This will give 370,000 adults with severe mental illnesses, including eating disorders, greater choice and control over their care and support them to live well in their communities. As part of this we are expanding community eating disorder services capacity, including crisis care and intensive home treatment.
NHS England has also established 15 adult eating disorder provider collaboratives which cover the whole of England. These provider collaboratives are working to redesign the pathway for adults with eating disorders to bring care closer to home.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to provide community support for people with eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing almost £1 billion extra in community mental health care for adults by 2023/24, improving community support for people with serious mental illnesses, including eating disorders. As part of this we are expanding community eating disorder services capacity, including crisis care and intensive home treatment.
Since 2016, investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services has risen every year, with an extra £54 million per year from 2022/23. This extra funding will enhance the capacity of community eating disorder teams across the country.
NHS England has also established 15 adult eating disorder provider collaboratives which cover the whole of England. These provider collaboratives are working to redesign the pathway for adults with eating disorders to bring care closer to home.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of eating disorders; and what steps he is taking to help address the causes of eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no plans to make a specific assessment. However, we would expect, as part of new policy design and development, that all policies with implications for eating disorders should consider existing evidence and seek the views of experts and stakeholders.
In recognition of the rising demand for eating disorders services created by the pandemic, we invested £58 million in 2021/22 to support the expansion of adult community mental health services, including those for eating disorders. We also invested £79 million extra to expand children’s mental health services in 2021/22, including enabling at least 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services.
We know that eating disorders are complicated mental health conditions caused by a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and environmental factors. It is unclear exactly why someone develops an eating disorder.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will develop a specific strategy for supporting young people with eating disorders in the health and care system.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department announced on 24 January 2023 that, in consultation with NHS England and colleagues across Government, it will develop and publish a Major Conditions Strategy. The strategy will include prevention to treatment for mental ill health and will be focusing on areas that contribute most to morbidity and mortality. The Strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care, building on measures that we have already taken forward through the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the best practice course of treatment people with eating disorders.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no plans to make an assessment. All decisions about treatment should be taken jointly between the clinician and the patient. Decisions should be based on the best evidence available and national guidance where appropriate, so everyone gets the right treatments at the right time. We expect clinicians, commissioners, and providers to adhere to this guidance.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national clinical guidelines concerning the recognition and treatment of eating disorders. NHS England has also published separate guidance to support the provision and commissioning of eating disorder services for children and young people and adults. NHS England is currently refreshing this guidance, including to increase the focus on early identification and intervention.