The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eating Disorders:
Preventing Eating Disorder Deaths
Hope Virgo
On 28 October, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for eating disorders launched its next report: An Inquiry into Preventing Eating Disorder Deaths. This will be the UK’s first national strategy to end preventable deaths from eating disorders.
Eating disorders are some of the most serious and life-threatening mental health conditions, yet they have long been overlooked and are severely underfunded in the NHS. As a result, they now represent one of the most significant treatment gaps in modern healthcare. Over the past decade, the prevalence of eating disorders has risen sharply, an already troubling trend that was accelerated by COVID19.
Despite growing awareness, eating disorders remain among the most fatal mental health conditions and are still massively stigmatised. This is reinforced by poor understanding and the repetition of misinformation. For example, eating disorders are often described as “coping mechanisms” or “all about control”. Both descriptions are overly simplistic.
People who do not recover within the first three years are often seen as less likely to benefit from further treatment and are placed on pathways where full recovery is no longer considered achievable. Yet recovery is possible even after many years of illness. Under-resourced services frequently lack the capacity to provide evidence-based care and clinicians face pressure to discharge patients early, sometimes driven more by system pressures than by clinical need.
Eating disorders are treatable illnesses. Deaths are not inevitable. With the right care, people do recover. But too many are still being failed by a system that reacts too late or not at all. Most deaths could be prevented with timely, coordinated, and compassionate treatment.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and Chair of the APPG said:
“The number of lives lost to eating disorders is unacceptably high. These are lives that could, and should, have been saved with early intervention and proper care. This petition and report is a direct call to action for the Government. We must act now to stop more needless deaths.”
The report demands key reforms, including:
- Mandatory training for healthcare professionals to improve early diagnosis and care.
- A confidential national inquiry into eating disorder-related deaths.
- Sustainable funding for specialist services across the country.
- Data transparency and accountability for how eating disorder-related deaths are recorded and reported.
- Increased research investment to better understand the causes, risks, and longterm impacts of eating disorders.
‘Recovery Is Possible’
The report is dedicated to the memory of Zara Taylor, who died by suicide in 2021 after years of inadequate care. Her story echoes the experiences of hundreds of families across the UK.
Over the last few years, we have seen more people with eating disorders having treatment withdrawn and I am hopeful that this report will help us push for change where we really need it. It will help create a space where we can hold services to a high standard of support for those affected by eating disorders.
People with eating disorders can and do recover and that’s what we need to hold on to through all of this.
To read the whole report: https://www.dumpthescales.org/our-reports