A Bristol woman who has struggled with anorexia has led a group of MPs to Downing Street in an urgent call to the government for more support to prevent eating disorder deaths.
Hope Virgo joined members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Eating Disorders to deliver a petition to Number 10 earlier this week.
The petition coincided with Tuesday’s publication of a new report, An Inquiry into the Prevention of Eating Disorder Deaths, by Ms Virgo and the APPG.
It provides the UK’s first national strategy in tackling preventable deaths from anorexia, bulimia and other severe disturbances in eating behaviour.
The national strategy urges for confidential inquiries into all eating disorder deaths, integration with suicide prevention strategies, and improved data collection and learning systems.
Following her own struggles with anorexia nervosa, Ms Virgo started the CIC Dump the Scales in 2018 to address the way BMI was used in eating disorder diagnoses and care. Now, it works as secretariat to the Eating Disorders APPG.
Today @DumpTheScales & @HopeVirgo launch their latest report within their role as Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders.
— Emily♡ (@ItsEmilyKaty) October 28, 2025
‘This report lays bare a devastating and all too familiar reality – the system is failing people with eating… pic.twitter.com/xVd1pN4j8P
The report criticised the way withdrawal of treatment and palliative care approaches have been adopted for people who face eating disorders as a long-standing illness, despite eating disorders being treatable at all stages.
“We need funding into services to meet the demand but also a complete cultural shift within eating disorder services. Too many people are being failed and neglected because of an outdated view that people with eating disorders don’t recover,” said Ms Virgo.
“Lives are being lost, and families are left to navigate this crisis alone. While there are examples of good practice across the UK, unsafe discharges remain far too common, and the system is failing to prevent avoidable deaths.
“These failures reveal poor accountability, fragmented commissioning, insufficient training for professionals, and a lack of tailored support for both patients and carers. This is not just a series of gaps, it’s a system in crisis.”
The report found an emerging theme of a ‘postcode lottery’ which highlighted inequality between availability and quality of treatment.
Ms Virgo emphasised how funding can aid communities like Bristol to tackle such disparity in local resources: “We are pushing for better accountability in the NHS which means if people are failed they can be heard. This will help locally, and beyond this, we can ensure that money hits the front line where it is needed most.”
Today, the APPG for Eating Disorders launched our new report on Preventing Eating Disorder Deaths and delivered it to Downing Street. Too many lives are lost to eating disorders—lives that could have been saved with early intervention and proper care. We must act now to stop more needless deaths.
— Wera Hobhouse MP (@werahobhouse.org.uk) 28 October 2025 at 16:08
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Bath also joined the charge towards preventing eating disorder deaths. The Chair of the APPG for Eating Disorders, Bath’s MP Wera Hobhouse, urged the Government to act:
“The number of lives lost to eating disorders is unacceptably high. These are lives that could, and should, have been saved with early intervention and proper care. This petition and report is a direct call to action for the Government. We must act now to stop more needless deaths.”
The University of Bath’s newly founded Disorders of Eating and Body Images (DEBI) Research Group also attended Parliament.
The report is dedicated to the memory of Zara Taylor, who took her own life in 2021 following years of inadequate care. Her mum, Debs, joined the MPs and Ms Virgo for the delivery of the petition at Downing Street.
For further support with eating disorders, you can contact help at Beat Eating Disorders and SWEDA.
Read the report here.
