Bath MP leads debate on Eating Disorders Awareness Week, calling on government to stop “silent killer”
1 March 2024
Wera Hobhouse led an inspiring Westminster Hall debate to mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024 where she called for the government to drastically improve treatment for patients.
Across the UK, 1.25 million people have eating disorders. Mrs Hobhouse led a Parliamentary debate this Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024 (26th February- 3rd March) to focus specifically on raising awareness for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
Cases of people struggling with ARFID have increased sevenfold over the past five years, according to Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity. The condition is characterised by a limited range of food intake, which often means that people with ARFID struggle to meet their nutritional and energy needs. During her opening speech, the Bath MP shared stories from some people suffering with ARFID, arguing that these serious conditions are often overlooked because they are misdiagnosed as fussy eating.
As the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eating Disorders, Wera Hobhouse used the debate to raise awareness of the severe impact eating disorders have on both mental and physical health. She emphasised the fact that left untreated, eating disorders can be silent killers. For example, anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Hobhouse argued that delays to diagnosis and treatment could sometimes have deadly consequences. On average, people wait almost three and a half years to get treatment for their eating disorder, with adults waiting twice as long. In many cases, sufferers reach the point of emergency hospitalisation before they can access care.
The Bath MP spoke of the importance of preventing these avoidable deaths by improving access to treatment. While she praised local Bath charity SWEDA for providing invaluable support to people with eating disorders, she said that much more support was needed from the government to aid charities in their work.
Mrs Hobhouse urged the government to rapidly ramp up investment in treatment for eating disorders. Additionally, she said she would like to see the government implement an evidence-based national eating disorders strategy, with a plan to tackle the rising number of people affected by eating disorders. She also called for the appointment of an eating disorders prevention champion to coordinate the government's response.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, commented:
“Eating disorder sufferers are being abandoned by this government. We all know that the NHS is in crisis due to years of Conservative neglect, but delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to completely avoidable deaths.
“No one should be condemned to a life of illness and nor should anyone die from an eating disorder in 2024. We must remember that eating disorders are treatable and stop this silent killer in its tracks.
“While I am proud that we have incredible charities like SWEDA working within Bath, they cannot do it all alone. People with eating disorders deserve so much better from the government. We must not allow the Conservatives to continue promising funding with empty words; we need to see genuine commitment to a national strategy today.”
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