Maximum wait for eating disorder treatment to come in from April

The measures will see the introduction of waiting time targets for young people to access evidence-based community treatment for eating disorders within a set timeframe.

The exact details of the targets have yet to be unveiled.

But in a statement to the House of Commons this week, health minister Alistair Burt said the access and waiting time standards – first announced in last December’s budget – will be implemented from 1 April 2016.

Burt added that NHS England and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health will soon publish a guide for clinical commissioning groups that sets out what they need to do in 2015/16 to prepare for the changes.

The waiting time and access standards are part of a £150m investment in children and young people’s eating disorders services over the next five years, which also aims to halve the use of inpatient beds, cut the rate of relapse, improve the transition to adult services and reduce by 70 per cent the numbers of young people that need to be treated into adulthood.

The government hopes the funding and measures will help stem the recent rise in the number of young people being admitted to hospital with eating disorders – NHS figures show the number of hospital admissions rose from 1,356 in 2012/13 to 1,815 in 2013/14.

The government’s decision to implement the standards from next April has been welcomed by children’s mental health campaigners.

Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at YoungMinds, said: "For too long, too many children and young people with eating disorders have had to wait for unacceptable amounts of time for treatment.

"Often, this has meant that their condition has got much worse during the time it takes for treatment to begin.
 
"This is a welcome step in improving access to children and young people's mental health services.

"We now need to see similar commitments to other mental health conditions for children and young people."