Teachers, school nurses and GPs will be offered NHS support to spot early signs of eating disorders so no child is left to “suffer in silence.”
NHS eating disorder services have been overhauled in response to rising demand: the number of children and young people treated rose from 8,034 in 2019/20 to 11,174 in 2024/25—an increase of almost 40%. New NHS guidance published today also clamps down on using BMI thresholds as the sole measure for treatment eligibility, advising staff not to rely on this outdated practice.
Clinicians will instead assess a range of factors with greater focus on behavioural changes and family concerns. Online training, developed with the charity Beat and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, will be provided for teachers, GPs and school nurses so they can recognise signs and refer children for NHS support.
Every local area in England now has a specialist eating disorder service for children and young people, compared with only a few areas a decade ago. Children are now seen and offered treatment within around three weeks of referral on average for conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, following NHS service expansion under the 10 Year Health Plan. The aim is earlier treatment close to home to prevent severe illness and hospital admission.
Dr Adrian James, National Medical Director for Mental Health and Neurodiversity at NHS England, said: “NHS staff have worked incredibly hard to transform eating disorder services over the last decade, but we are determined to ensure no child is left to suffer in silence. We know the significant pressures young people are experiencing which can be exacerbated by social media bombarding them with content that does not always show realistic body images. And we’re seeing the impact of that with growing numbers of young people turning to the NHS for eating disorder support, but it’s vital that everyone knows how to access this treatment which is why we will be offering training to teachers, GPs and school nurses to spot the signs and refer children for specialist help faster. So, if you or anyone you know is in need of support please contact your GP.”
The guidance was co-produced with stakeholders including Beat and the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is the first major overhaul of children and young people with an eating disorder guidance since 2015.
Tom Quinn, Director of External Affairs at Beat, said: “Demand for eating disorder services has risen steeply since the pandemic and we know that access to these services can vary widely depending on location. The publication of this new guidance is an encouraging step in the right direction, helping to ensure equitable access to eating disorder treatment across the country. We worked closely with NHS England during the drafting process and will do all we can to support its implementation. We’re pleased by the focus upon issues we’ve long been campaigning on, including early intervention, addressing inequalities in care, access to intensive community and day treatment options, and support for families and carers. It’s particularly positive that avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) has been included – now, it’s crucial that all NHS integrated care boards respond by developing a dedicated and evidence-based care pathway. Moving forward, the government must not allow this guidance to be left in limbo and ensures it is implemented promptly. We need the right staffing for this to work, and so recruiting and keeping staff should be a key priority. It’s imperative that funds are made available nationally and locally to deliver on this ambitious guidance and begin to tackle the growing crisis in eating disorder services.”
Dr Ashish Kumar, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Eating Disorders Faculty, said: “We welcome this guidance which has the potential to reduce waiting times and improve care for children and young people who have anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. These conditions can be extremely serious and even life‑threatening when left untreated, so it is imperative that we are bold in our efforts to innovate the support that is available. Community eating disorder services should use this guidance to establish day care and outreach initiatives that can prevent young people from becoming unwell and help others recover more quickly. We also need new care pathways for patients with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder who often struggle to access treatment. This guidance provides a blueprint through which frontline eating disorder services can work with GPs, paediatricians, neurodiversity pathways, schools, colleges and intellectual disability services to better meet the needs of children and young people. We hope integrated care boards will seize this opportunity and support services to implement these national commissioning guidelines as soon as possible with the appropriate resources and funding.”
Further information
– Local integrated care boards commission eating disorder services, with commissioning scaled to population size.
– NHS England follows NICE guidance on recognition and treatment of eating disorders.
– There are 93 community teams and 54 inpatient teams for children and young people in England; every local integrated care board has community eating disorder services (CEDS).
– Referral routes include self-referral by children and young people, education settings (school nurses, mental health support teams), primary care (GPs), acute and mental health inpatient settings, crisis teams, home treatment teams, paediatric teams, children and young people’s mental health teams, voluntary, community and social enterprise settings, social care, and other local health and well-being provisions including weight management services.
– Free digital training programmes for education and health professionals have been commissioned and developed with Beat and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
– The number of children and young people starting treatment rose from 8,034 in 2019/20 to 11,174 in 2024/25, affecting performance against the access and waiting time standard (95% of routine referrals to start within 4 weeks; 95% of urgent within 1 week).
– Additional investment of £54 million per year since 2023/24 has expanded community eating disorder team capacity. In the rolling quarter September 2025 to November 2025, performance improved to 78.4% (384/490) of urgent and 81.7% (2,145/2,625) of routine cases starting treatment within 1 and 4 weeks respectively.
– The Royal College of Psychiatrists and NHS England have published their first audit of eating disorder services in England, with latest waiting time figures.
– Free e‑learning resources include SPOT (Beat) for schools and MindEd (Royal College of Psychiatrists).
