Eating Disorders

I thank my hon. Friend for pointing us in that direction. The Government have assisted practitioners in choosing the most appropriate treatments. As my hon. Friend said, we asked NICE to produce guidance on the management of eating disorders, which was published in January 2004. In fact, ““beat”” was involved in drawing up those guidelines, and we are again very grateful to it for its assistance. The guidelines make clear recommendations about the available treatment and set out a structured pathway of care. NICE has also published information for the public, explaining the guidelines and setting out what people with eating disorders can expect from the national health service. That is the other side of the story. As my hon. Friend said, such people may have low self-esteem and self-confidence, so they may find it difficult to share their circumstances. If they are unaware of the available services, they may wonder what is the point in going along to a meeting. We therefore wanted a two-track approach that involves being clear with health care professionals about the available treatments and the pathway to care, as well as ensuring that the public know about those treatments and that something can be done to help. My hon. Friend talked about the different options that are available, including on psychiatric wards and so on. People with severe and intractable eating disorders might require referral to highly specialised services when local services cannot meet their needs, and specialised services have been developed in recent years. That indicates the various care settings that are now available. When I visited a community mental health team recently, I was impressed because they had a eating disorders specialist. Previously, the practice had always been to refer people to in-patient care, but now consideration is being given to helping people at home and in the community through specialised services. There are various ways of providing services, and there is some very good in-patient care. We must consider the individual to determine the most appropriate care. Sometimes in-patient care will be most appropriate, but it is important for commissioners to consider closely what can be offered in the community. As the role of PCTs changes and they clearly examine the needs of the local health population in the community and closely consider the services that they commission, it is important that they assess whether they have the right balance between in-patient care and the care that is available to people in their own homes—particularly at a highly specialised level—to help individuals with eating disorders. The new role that PCTs will play in considering their own commissioning will help to identify and examine whether services are appropriate. They will often work with local organisations, such as ““beat””, and those that my hon. Friend mentioned from his constituency, to determine whether there are occasions when they ought to commission services jointly, because voluntary organisations are sometimes more effective than statutory services at reaching out to people.