Mr Paul Kohler

I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) on securing this vital debate. As has been said, early intervention is vital—but sufferers and their families invariably face an overstretched and underfunded system, with services unable to meet demand and treatment offered far too late, if at all, while those who manage to get seen early on are not infrequently told, in effect, “Go away and come back when you are thinner.” It is not only difficult to get help early on, but also, at that stage, to recognise there is a problem in the first place, as my wife and I know personally. One of our daughters, who has given me permission to tell her story, suffered with an eating disorder for many years. Neither my wife Samantha nor I recognised the early signs. By the time we realised, she was deep in the grip of this terrible disease. She did not want help, and actively and strenuously tried to refuse it. Young people with eating disorders become adept at hiding them, and health education interventions can sometimes be counterproductive. My daughter told me that her PSHE—personal, social, health and economic education—lesson at school, which was supposed to educate pupils on the dangers of anorexia, was more like a how-to guide for the various means of hiding the condition from family and friends. That is why it is so important that parents, teachers and all those who work with children are better educated to be aware of potential warning signs. It is also a salutary riposte to those siren voices that, in other contexts, urge us always to accede to a child’s wishes.