Young woman from Bristol said she was ‘let down’

A young woman who suffers from an eating disorder says she has felt “let down” and “misunderstood” by medics, as academics call for an overhaul of how such conditions are treated.

Beth Yates, 22, from Bristol, sought help with her eating habits and mental health aged 20, but said doctors seemed unable to consider both issues as part of the same problem.

It comes as a team from the University of Bath Disorders of Eating and Body Image (DEBI) Research Group has met MPs in parliament urging them to take action, they said there are “significant failures” in the UK’s current eating disorder services.

The government says it is working to improve the system.

Ms Yates said she had been “picky” with food from a young age and she struggled with her mental health throughout her teenage years.

She decided to see a doctor about her eating habits after a friend did so and shared a positive experience, but Ms Yates said her experience was far less helpful.

“Instead of having a similar response to the way my friend did, it was incredibly numbers based and incredibly calories based, so I was immediately almost interrogated on, ‘how much do you eat every day, what do you eat every day, what do you want to eat,’ and the whole of that chat made me feel so uncomfortable,” she said.

Ms Yates said no attention was paid to her prior mental struggles, having found herself in crisis several times as a teenager.

The DEBI research group describes the current system of treatment on offer in the UK as a “postcode lottery”.

The group said some are denied treatment as they are “not deemed thin enough”, while others are discharged without follow up plans or released prematurely, with patients in the most severe cases going on to suffer organ failure or death.

An All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eating Disorders is calling on the government to make changes.

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse, who chairs the APPG said: “The devastating impact of eating disorders in the UK, on those who are suffering and their families, has flown under the political radar for far too long.

“It’s now imperative that as policymakers, researchers and campaigners, we come together to tackle this, which is why the launch of our new strategy is so timely and important.”

In a statement a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said they are working with NHS England to improve things.

“The 10 Year Health Plan set out our ambitions to transform mental health services. We are already over halfway to recruiting 8,500 extra mental health staff and we’re reaching millions more children by expanding mental health support teams in schools.”