The number of children and young people with eating disorders has risen sharply in recent years with waiting times for treatment also increasing.
An analysis by the children’s commissioner for England found the number of young people starting NHS treatment more than doubled in the past six years.
Roughly 11,800 children and young people began eating disorder treatment in 2022/23, up from 5,240 in 2016/17, found the analysis of NHS data.
Under-25s account for nearly half of the 24,300 people admitted to hospital for eating disorder treatment in 2020/21 – an increase of nearly 84 per cent since 2016/17. The vast majority were women and girls but there has also been a rise in the number of young men admitted to hospital with an eating disorder.
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