I am an Associate Non-executive Director at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. My Fellowship explores national strategies for addressing the growing demand for eating disorders care. I aim to learn from countries that have developed strategies that respond effectively to this issue. I will explore solutions that provide early intervention, effective treatments, best use of resources, strategies for enhanced prevention and the process of one day finding a cure.

I led the work of the NHS Benchmarking Network for over 20 years, which included a large programme in mental health services. Over this period I was fortunate to be able to track and evidence many substantial improvements in UK mental health care. However, eating disorders remains an area without a national strategy and where the treatment gap has been widening. The treatment gap is now one of the largest in UK healthcare.

There is a huge opportunity to learn from countries that have developed confident national strategies for eating disorders and bring this learning back to share with health policymakers and the wider NHS.