#JustTwoHours: Worcestershire woman calls for mandatory eating disorder training for GPs
Medical students have less than two hours - and our investigation has found some don't having any at all
Last updated 8th Feb 2022
A woman from Worcestershire says it's "essential" GPs have mandatory training in eating disorders.
Medical students currently have on average 1.8 hours of training in them - 1 in 5 medical schools dont provide any training in them at all.
Kim Marshall, from Pershore, says it means thousands of people are going undiagnosed because GPs don't have enough training on how to spot the signs.
WATCH: Kim Marshall says comments from GPs can be very triggering
Eating disorder are a mental health issue
Kim was diagnosed with anorexia when she was 31-years-old following the breakdown of her marraige.
When she approached her GP for help she found there was too much of a focus on the physical aspect of her mental health illness.
"Eating disorders are a mental health issue, they’re not about food or weight. We can’t see what’s going on in people’s brains", expalisn Kim.
"I've heard GPs say "I've seen worse than you" and another female healthcare professional told me "you have a 34 inch bust, you don't look like you've got a problem".
"These comments are so insensitive and ignorant."
Kim has now recovered and is a therapist who supports people with eating disorders.
She's now launched a petition calling for GPs to have mandatory training to ensure they know how to spot the signs to provide early intervention.
"So often people are judged on what they look like, in order to be assessed and to determine if it’s an urgent case.
"This means many people are then forced to become more ill, in order to be taken seriously and get the help they need. By which time the illness more ingrained.
"This training should not be optional. This should be in every medical school as a whole module for students to take."
#JustTwoHours
Since the first lockdown in March 2020, it's estimated 3.4 million people in the UK are now living an eating disorder.
As it stands, UK undergraduate medical students receive on average 1.8 hours of training in eating disorders - and some don't have any training at all.
In 2020, counselling service Kooth reported a 51% increase in the number of under-18s accessing help for an eating disorder compaired to the previous year.