Members of the House of Lords call for greater support for people living with eating disorders
Beat are pleased to report that this week in the House of Lords a number of questions were raised about support for people with eating disorders.
Baroness Parminter opened by asking about the Government’s response to the finding from the Health Survey for England 2019 that ‘16% of adults aged 16 and over screened positive for a possible eating disorder’. As Baroness Parminter highlighted, this finding suggests that the number of people affected by an eating disorder may be higher than was previously thought.
There were questions on a range of topics, from the impact of the pandemic on people with eating disorders to the need for more training for doctors about eating disorders.
Other important topics were also raised by members of the House of Lords, including:
The Government acknowledged that the statistics about eating disorders are shocking and, whilst they would not commit to a study to identify the number of people with eating disorders, they did highlight the need for measures that make a difference.
Beat was pleased that this important discussion taking place in Parliament and are committed to working with Parliamentarians to improve the lives of people living with eating disorders.
When asked for her response to this discussion in the House of Lords Baroness Parminter told Beat:
“It was great so many peers joined with me to press the Government to do more for people with eating disorders. That wide support for more action was not lost on the Minister, Lord Bethell, who showed compassion for sufferers and their loved ones - though it was disappointing he wouldn’t commit to funding a national study to inform research and Eating Disorders service provision. He mentioned ‘further announcements of spending in this area’ and that ‘we will put resources in place to address this’. I and my colleagues in the Lords will hold him to this! We need faster action and funding, not just words, to help the rising number of people suffering these vicious diseases.