The BMA at its Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) in Brighton today passed a motion condemning the current state of eating disorders services across the country.

Dr John Moore, BMA mental health lead said,

“Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with some of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition, yet too many patients continue to face unacceptable delays in accessing specialist care.

“Doctors working across the health service regularly see the consequences of under-resourced and fragmented eating disorder services, with gaps widening between physical and mental healthcare provision and patients becoming more unwell while waiting for treatment.

“People with eating disorders require timely access to specialist, multidisciplinary care that meets both their physical and psychological needs. Responsibility for the management of high-risk patients must not be shifted onto already overstretched general practice services without the specialist support and resources required to provide safe care.

“The BMA is calling for a comprehensive review of eating disorder services across the UK to ensure patients can access safe, effective and equitable treatment, regardless of where they live, and to reduce preventable harm and deaths.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Motion text below:

Motion by THE AGENDA COMMITTEE (TO BE PROPOSED BY GATESHEAD DIVISION): That this meeting condemns the current state of eating disorders services in the country, including the lack of appropriate provision of physical health care and the unacceptably high mortality rate, and therefore calls on the BMA to actively lobby relevant bodies to ensure:-
timely and equitable access to adequately resourced eating disorder services;
that eating disorder services do not transfer responsibility for monitoring and managing high-risk patients to general practice; such patients must receive regular specialist-led care; CARRIED
an urgent, UK-wide governmental review of eating disorder services is undertaken to ensure safe, effective, and equitable provision across all nations, enabling patients to access the care they need and reducing preventable
morbidity and mortality; CARRIED
that all inpatients for whom an eating disorder is the primary reason for admission are treated either on a medical ward with psychiatric input or on a psychiatric ward attached to a physical health hospital; CARRIED
that eating disorders inpatients receive at least weekly input from a senior psychiatrist (holding MRCPsych or equivalent) and a senior physician trained in general medicine (holding MRCP or equivalent); CARRIED
that all wards on which eating disorders patients are treated have the facilities and training to site nasogastric tubes and administer intravenous treatment; CARRIED
that all doctors treating eating disorders inpatients have access to a 24-hour on-site X-ray department and are able to view radiological images resulting from the same. FELL

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.

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