Your article on 45% of primary teachers encountering eating disorders in primary schools should alarm policymakers, but it will not surprise those of us working in clinical and rehabilitation services (Almost half of primary teachers in England see pupils with eating disorders, survey finds, 31 March).
Children are presenting signs of eating disorders at younger ages, and by the time they reach specialist care their conditions are often more complex and entrenched. This earlier onset reflects a combination of pressures, from social media amplifying body image concerns to unmet emotional needs in children still recovering from the pandemic, and also a system that remains too slow to respond.
Teachers are increasingly the first to spot the signs. Yet they are not clinicians, and many feel ill-equipped to act. The result is a critical gap between early identification and intervention. The eating disorders (training) bill introduced by the MP Richard Quigley on 10 February, which is aimed at making training on eating disorders mandatory for frontline staff such as teachers, must be approved. If not, we are condemning a generation to lifelong problems.
When eating disorders are recognised and treatment begins quickly, outcomes improve significantly. When they are not, illness can escalate rapidly and become life-threatening, leading to the need for more intensive, expensive and prolonged rehabilitation.
This is why there is an urgent need for greater integration between community, primary care and specialist services. This should be supported by mandatory training for school staff and nurses, and clearer communication pathways between education and healthcare services.
This is a society-wide challenge to combat some of the deadliest mental health illnesses. The earlier we act, the greater the chance of sustained recovery and keeping young people safe.
Laetitia Beaujard-Ramoo
Ipswich, Suffolk
