Petition: National Eating Disorders Strategy
- Dump the Scales
- Apr 17
- 2 min read
Lives are being lost. Eating Disorders need Action!
Right now, across the UK, people with eating disorders are being denied care, turned away from services, and left to become more unwell. Some are dying. Not because recovery isn’t possible but because the system is failing them. This has to change.
People are being told they are “not ill enough” for treatment
Others are told they are “too complex” to be helped
People are on waiting lists for months, sometimes years
Families are left to manage life-threatening illnesses alone
People are being discharged when they are still dangerously unwell
This is what a broken system looks like.
We are calling for the Government to:
Urgently deliver a national Eating Disorder Strategy
Why is this important?
For too long people with eating disorders have been failed. For too long people with eating disorders have been neglected.
We are calling on the Government for a standalone eating disorder strategy.
Eating disorders are among the most serious and life-threatening mental illnesses yet they have been overlooked and underfunded for far too long. As a result, they now have one of the largest treatment gaps in modern healthcare.
In the past decade, eating disorders have risen at an alarming rate, a crisis that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right now, too many people are waiting for help. Too many arebeing turned away. Too many are deteriorating while services are stretched beyond breaking point.
Eating disorders do not discriminate. They affect people of all ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds. Yet public understanding remains narrow, and services fail to reflect the true scale and diversity of need.
Binge Eating Disorder is now significantly more common than anorexia, yet there are still no dedicated NHS treatment pathways for it in many areas. Children as young as four are being diagnosed with ARFID and are unable to access specialist support.
Families are being left to cope alone. Clinicians are trying to save lives in systems that are underfunded, under-resourced and overwhelmed.
Lives are being lost. Families are being torn apart. The human and financial cost of inaction is devastating.
We urgently need a comprehensive, properly funded, cross-government National Eating Disorder Strategy that:
Delivers an Inquiry to urgently review the current services and why people are dying or getting worse in treatment
Guarantees timely access to specialist treatment for people of all ages
Provides dedicated support for all eating disorder diagnoses, including Binge Eating Disorder and ARFID
Invests in early intervention and prevention
Addresses workforce shortages and ensures proper training
Tackles inequalities in access and outcomes
Commits to long-term, sustainable funding
Treats eating disorders as the public health emergency they are
Ensure treatment models are disability and neurodiversity-informed
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