PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Eating Disorders (13 April 2018)

The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) report ‘Ignoring the alarms: how NHS eating disorder services are failing patients’ published in December 2017 described the service failings that led to the avoidable and tragic death of Averil Hart, a 19 year old who suffered from an eating disorder.

In response to the PHSO report, a working group has been set up, chaired by Professor Tim Kendall (NHS England and NHS Improvement National Clinical Director), to address the recommendations and take them into account for planned improvement to eating disorder services. The second recommendation in the report recommends that Health Education England (HEE) reviews its current education and training to address the gaps in the provision of eating disorder specialists and HEE is now working with cross system partners within the working group to address this recommendation.