Doctors ‘are failing victims with eating disorders because they don’t think their condition is serious enough’

An estimated 1.6 million people in the UK are sufferers – costing the economy £1.26 billion a year – but only around half are diagnosed with either anorexia or bulimia under strict NHS guidelines. 

The rest are dismissed as having an eating disorder not otherwise specified – known as Ednos – and consequently face longer waits for treatment.

Louise Court, editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan magazine which is launching a joint campaign with the charity Beat, said: ‘Ednos sufferers aren’t just being “a bit funny about food”, they are seriously ill.

‘The NHS is failing so many women and men who desperately need help.’

Clare Gerada, former head of the Council of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘For any mental health problem, we currently have a 17-week waiting list for cognitive behavioural therapy. You wouldn’t have to wait 17 weeks if you had a broken leg.

 

‘We need mental health to be treated the same as physical health, waiting times should be put in place and there needs  to be better investment.’

Care Minister Norman Lamb said the Government was bringing in waiting time standards for people suffering from a mental health problem.

An estimated 1.6million people in the UK are sufferers – costing the economy £1.26billion a year – but only around half are diagnosed with either anorexia or bulimia under strict NHS guidelines

Source Mail Online