£150m eating disorder fund to focus on prevention

The funding package, announced by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg today, will help pay for the introduction of new waiting time standards for eating disorder services by 2016 and shift the focus of treatment to early intervention.

The announcement, which is set to be confirmed in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Wednesday, has been welcomed by children’s mental health charities and doctors’ leaders.

The government said the investment will be paid for by “channelling money from expensive institutional care to local provision”. This will enable an expansion of community treatment and make hospital care “a last resort”, and improve access to talking therapies for children with eating disorders.

It hopes the package of measures will also reduce the number of young people with an eating disorder who need to be transferred to adult services, improve transition to adult services for those who need it and help establish a more standardised level of provision across England.

Clegg said: “Too often children with mental health problems are being completely let down, with many suffering from eating disorders that go unreported and untreated.
 
“We know that if an eating disorder goes untreated for more than three to five years, the chances of recovery are greatly reduced, while incidents of self-harm increase.
 
“That’s why we need to act now to transform the current system, intervening earlier with dedicated and targeted community-based services to ensure we don’t fail this generation or the next.”
 
Sarah Brennan, chief executive of charity YoungMinds, said: "It is great news to hear that areas of support for children and young people’s mental health will receive additional, desperately needed resources. We wish to congratulate the government on championing the change and in taking the first steps to focus funds where they are so badly needed – for children and young people.”