The NHS has today released statistics on the number of Children and Young People, up to the age of 19, with an eating disorder who have accessed or are waiting for treatment, with the figures revealing that a staggering 2,039 children are still waiting for their eating disorder treatment to start.
Most worryingly, 10% of those still waiting are classed by the NHS themselves as ‘urgent cases’.
Eating disorder experts, UKAT, state that the number of kids waiting for their eating disorder treatment to start in the first part of this year is three times as many as were waiting last year.
Further analysis shows that the number of urgent cases still waiting for treatment has risen by a staggering 60% since the previous quarter alone, a trend UKAT’s Eating Disorder Practitioner, Dimitra Theofili, says should be going in the opposite direction. She said: “There are now more children than ever who require urgent treatment for an eating disorder, but who are still waiting for treatment to start. This simply isn’t good enough, because time is the enemy for a person with an eating disorder.
“We must remember that these are children who have bravely asked for help, but who still, some 12 weeks later, aren’t getting the potentially life-saving help they need.
“Eating disorders are progressive illnesses, and so the sufferers simply don’t have the time to wait for help. Today’s report must be a wake-up call, and these children must get the help they need now.”
