A damning new report has laid bare a stark postcode lottery and agonising delays for adults seeking treatment for eating disorders in England, with some forced to wait nearly two years for vital support.
Stark Disparity Between Adult and Child Services
The first-ever National Audit of Eating Disorders (NAED), commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and funded by NHS England, found a growing and worrying disparity between services for children and adults. The data, collected between January and May this year, shows there are significantly fewer specialist teams available for adults.
While there are 93 community teams and 54 inpatient teams for children and young people, adults have access to just 69 community teams and 33 inpatient teams nationally.
Waiting Times: A Tale of Two Systems
The audit reveals the profound impact of this service gap on waiting times. On average, adults wait twice as long as children for an initial assessment and face a staggering tenfold increase in the wait to start treatment.
The national median wait for community care for children is 14 days for assessment and just 4 days for treatment. For adults, this jumps to a 28-day median wait for assessment and 42 days for treatment.
However, these averages mask extreme cases. Some children and young people still wait up to 450 days for treatment. For adults, the situation is far worse, with the audit finding some individuals facing waits of up to 700 days—almost two years—to receive the care they need.
In total, the report states that 3,855 people were on a waiting list for an assessment from a community care team, with a further 4,537 waiting to begin treatment. Of the teams with waiting lists, 71% cited 'demand exceeding capacity' as the primary cause.
Charity Warns of 'Devastating' Impact and Postcode Lottery
The eating disorder charity Beat described the findings as "particularly worrying." Tom Quinn, Beat's director of external affairs, said the audit was a vital first step but highlighted the human cost of the delays.
"Community care staff are doing their best to support those with eating disorders but some patients are still facing the devastating news that there is no local support available to them," he stated.
Quinn emphasised that the crisis in adult care is characterised by longer waits, inaccessible self-referral options, and patchy service coverage. He also pointed to a 'real postcode lottery' for conditions like binge eating disorder, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and night eating syndrome.
"We know from our community that reaching out for help requires a great deal of courage, so being told that there’s no local support available can be devastating," Quinn added. The charity is calling for guaranteed access to intensive community or day services for all who could benefit.
In response, an NHS England spokesperson acknowledged the need for improvement: "While it is encouraging to see that on average children are being seen within a fortnight of coming forward, we are determined to make sure that everyone across all ages receives quick access to support that is consistent across the country."
They noted that every local health system now has at least one specialist eating disorder service and stated the NHS would use the report's findings to help drive down waiting times for all patients. The public were urged to come forward to their GP practice as soon as possible if struggling.
