Adults with eating disorders in England are waiting up to 700 days for vital treatment, according to a report.
The stark figures were revealed in the first report of the National Audit of Eating Disorders (NAED), which looked at access to eating disorder services across the country.
The audit, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and funded by NHS England, found there were more community teams to support children than there were for adults.
On average, adults with eating disorders had to wait twice as long as children for an assessment, and more than 10 times as long for treatment, the report found.
The eating disorder charity Beat said the “growing disparity” between child and adult services was “particularly worrying”.
The NAED report, using data collected between January and May this year, found there were 93 community teams and 54 inpatient teams for children and young people, compared with 69 community teams and 33 inpatient teams for adults.
The audit found the national median wait for community care for children and young people was 14 days for assessment and four days for treatment, but some waited up to 450 days for treatment.
For adults, the national median wait was 28 days for assessment and 42 days for treatment, with some waiting up to 700 days for treatment.
In total, 3,855 people were waiting for an assessment from a community care team and 4,537 were waiting for treatment, the report said.
Of those community teams with waiting lists, 71% said the most common reason was because of “demand exceeding capacity”.
Tom Quinn, the director of external affairs at Beat, said the audit was a “vital first step” to understanding service provision in England and improving care for people with eating disorders.
He said community care staff were “doing their best” to support those with eating disorders but some patients were still facing the “devastating” news that there was no local support available to them.
He added: “It’s particularly worrying to see a growing disparity between child and adult service provision, with longer waiting times, inaccessible or non-existent self-referral options and patchy service availability seen across adult care.
“There’s also a real postcode lottery for certain eating disorders such as binge eating disorder, Arfid [avoidant restrictive food intake disorder] 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.
“Being able to continue living at home often leads to the best outcomes, which is why we’re calling for everyone who could benefit to be given access to an intensive community or day service close to them.”
An NHS England spokesperson said: “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.
“Every local health system now has at least one specialist eating disorder service supporting adults and children, and we will use this report’s findings to support NHS teams to drive down waiting times for all patients.
“It’s vital that people who are struggling come forward and speak with their local GP practice as soon as possible.”
In the UK, Beat can be contacted on 0808 801 0677. In the US, help is available at nationaleatingdisorders.org or by calling ANAD’s eating disorders hotline at 800-375-7767. In Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is at 1800 33 4673. Other international helplines can be found at Eating Disorder Hope
