Dear Secretary of State,
We write to you to demand urgent action. We cannot keep losing lives to eating disorders.
An investigation by the Health Service Journal found that multiple failings in care led to the deaths of at least 19 people from eating disorders in England over the last five years. These deaths could have been prevented.
It’s disgraceful that so many lives have been lost to eating disorders that could have been saved with better care.
19 more lives lost.
19 people denied the chance to recover.
19 families living forever with this unimaginable loss.
Every one preventable.
This is not a wake-up call; the alarms were sounded 5 years ago.
A Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) investigation in 2017 found that the tragic deaths of three women could also have been avoided. The subsequent report detailed the failings in their care and what needed to be done to prevent any more lives being lost to eating disorders, stating that the ‘serious issues required national attention’.
More than five years on, it is clear the Government has not learned lessons, as we witness further avoidable deaths. Many more families across the country now changed forever following the devastating loss of their loved ones.
This is a national crisis and we need urgent action from the Government that reflects the severity of the situation.
The inquiries into the preventable deaths of these 19 people identified recurring failings in their care, including:
-Medical and risk management that was not of the quality or consistency needed for those with eating disorders
-Delays in access to appropriate treatment
-Poor co-ordination of care
-Lack of training on eating disorders for healthcare professionals
These are just the cases that we know about and regrettably there are likely to be many more.
The Government said in 2019 that improving eating disorder services was a ‘key priority’ and they ‘remained fully committed to implementing and completing the PHSO's recommendations’.
Despite this commitment, unimaginable pain and suffering continues across the country.
We must do more for the 1,250,000 individuals affected by eating disorders in the UK. We must ensure that no more lives are lost to these serious mental illnesses.
We need eating disorder services that are fully funded and fully staffed to cope with demand.
We need all medical, and other health, professionals to be trained about eating disorders to help them recognise the signs and symptoms and to intervene at the earliest opportunity.
We need our clinicians to have the capacity to be able to co-ordinate care effectively and offer support for as long as needed to stop people falling through the gaps.
Right now, we’re falling very short of this; and people are dying.
Will you commit to ensure that no more lives are lost to eating disorders?
Yours sincerely
Andrew Radford, Chief Executive, Beat
Tom Quinn, Director of External Affairs, Beat
Katherine Pugh, Head of Policy and Campaigns, Beat
Jonathan Kelly, Policy Advisor, Beat
Amelia Holt, Policy & Public Affairs Officer, Beat
Phoebe Bastiani, Campaigns Officer, Beat
Hajrah Khan, Campaigns Officer, Beat
Vicky Horne, Digital Campaigns Officer, Beat