MP urges Health Minister to tackle eating disorder crisis in Cumbria

In Parliament this morning, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron pleaded with ministers to train more NHS staff to support people who are suffering with an eating disorder.

Speaking during a Westminster Hall debate, Tim talked about the worrying rise in people being diagnosed with an eating disorder and the effects this has on themselves and their families.

Tim also listed a number of actions the Government could take to tackle the problem, including:

• Adequately commissioning eating disorder services closer to home
• Providing more support for families, who are hit by the consequences of eating disorders for their loved ones
• Increasing research funding to help better understand the causes and cures and tackle this range of diseases head on

Speaking during the debate, Tim said: "In our communities in Westmorland, anybody needing tier 4 hospitalisation for an eating disorder will be placed in a bed in Manchester, Edinburgh or Darlington if they are lucky and there are sufficient beds in those places.

"In many cases, people - often young people - end up hospitalised on the wrong kind of wards, where they are supported by lovely, wonderful people who are just not trained to support them.

"Therefore, the experience not just of that person in their suffering, but of the people caring for them and the other people - often young people - on those wards, is harrowing, deeply distressing and inappropriate."