EATING DISORDERS AWARENESS WEEK

Early day motion 647, tabled 3 February 2003 by Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru). Signed by 50 members.

That this House welcomes the Eating Disorders Association Awareness Week, 2nd to 8th February, as an important step towards securing better national services for those with eating disorders; notes that the EDA received 22,000 calls to its helpline last year, and that 18 per cent. of those callers could die prematurely due to anorexia, and that though the need for specialist eating disorder services is increasing, many areas of the UK still have no specialist services; congratulates the EDA on expanding its services to meet these needs, including increasing by 12 per cent. the numbers it assisted last year, and introducing an e-mail service that attracted over 1,000 people in its first four months; and calls upon the Government to work with the EDA and other specialist organisations and healthcare professionals to ensure proper provision and funding of eating disorders services and an end to the current chronic situation.

Signatures by party: Labour 26, Liberal Democrat 10, Plaid Cymru 4, Conservative 3, DUP 3, UUP 3, Labour/Co-operative 1.