Anorexics are turned away for ‘not being skinny enough’

ANOREXICS are not all “skinny, gaunt, teenagers”, a campaigner has said, as she claimed doctors turn away sufferers for not being thin enough.

One in five people who have eating disorders have their life cut short, figures show, but many do not look underweight, says one former sufferer.

Hope Virgo suffered from anorexia as a teenager and two years ago relapsed. However, her local mental health trust refused to treat her because she looked healthy.

“I remember leaving that appointment feeling really hypocritical, I felt like a fake,” she told Sky News. “I had this relentless anorexic voice beating me up constantly.”

The campaigner is now calling for better enforcement of the guidelines given to clinicians on conditions such as anorexia and bulimia, as well as changing the public image of sufferers.

Doctors are given guidance under the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) to disregard body mass index (BMI), which is based on the weight and height of a patient.

The rules read: “Do not use single measures such as BMI or duration of illness to determine whether to offer treatment for an eating disorder.”

Ms Virgo launched a petition, called Dump The Scales, which attracted 45,000 signatures in its first week. It calls for a change in approach to treating eating disorders.

She said: “I think that what the guidelines say is right in regards to BMI and looking at the whole person. But I think we need to get them implemented across the whole of the country, and to make sure there’s standard implementation.

“I know when you say the word ‘anorexic’, people always think of someone really skinny, a gaunt teenage girl. But that’s not always the reality of it. Eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes.”

The petition now has more than 55,000 signatures and has gained the support of Luciana Berger, a Labour MP and former shadow minister for mental health, who said: “Hope’s running a really important campaign to ensure that the guidelines that are out there really are subscribed to, because we know too many services across our country do not follow Nice guidelines.”