Health department to hire more eating disorder specialists as cases skyrocket

The Catalan health department will be hiring more eating disorder specialists as cases have skyrocketed over the past few years, especially among young women aged 12 to 18.

Authorities will spend €8.4m on increasing capacity at hospitals as well as resources for specialized units across Catalonia.

The plan, which was unveiled on Thursday, means there will be at least one eating disorder specialist per public mental health center in Catalonia.

It will also see an additional 104 professionals hired across the territory between 2023 and 2025.

Capacity at day hospitals will be increased from 30 to 115, while each medical region will now have at least one specialized eating disorder unit in order to bring the waiting period for a first visit down to 15 days. 

Authorities thus hope to be able to treat milder cases sooner before they become more severe. 

According to health minister Manel Balcells, anyone with an eating disorder is entitled to "adequate" public fair; the fact that some must resort to private centers is "to an extent a failure" of the public health system. 

More eating disorders

Eating disorders "have been spreading largely due to social media," health minister Manel Balcells said. "They affect young women and can be serious or very serious."

The number of people affected by them has gone up significantly over the past few years, especially during the pandemic: mental health centers treated 4,461 people for eating disorders in 2021, 61% more than in 2018. Of these 4,461 people, almost half were treated for new cases, while 92% were women. 

85,397 people reported having an eating disorder according to the 2020 Catalan public health survey.

1.5% of girls and women 15 and older said they have had anorexia at some point in their lives, 0.6% in the previous 12 months, and 1.2% have been diagnosed by a medical professional. 

0.8% of girls and women 15 and older reported having had bulimia at some point, while 0.1% said they had had it in the previous 12 months.