Men Get Eating Disorders Too

By Michelle Quinn, 8th February 2012, 05:00

A charity has started an e-petition to get more help for men who suffer from an eating disorder.

Nick Watts from Witney in Oxfordshire works for the charity "Men Get Eating Disorders Too"and told Heart why they've started it;

"It's to persuade to the government to make changes on national and local levels to make sure that men aren't stigmatised and lose out on the treatment opportunities that a young woman would often get."

Nick suffered as a young adult with disordered eating and told us Oxford has the potential to be a leading area for their cause:

"It's such a very good linked up area, with the universities and there's a specific place for eating disorder research in Oxford.

"And yet, the provision here is just as bad as everywhere else. You would think that with the prestige that it has for medical research and treatment that it would be much better than it is and we want to continue to work there to make sure men are better represented."

Oxford Health HHS Foundation Trust told us:

"We have one bed at our Oxford inpatient unit, Cotswold House, that is available to male clients.

"We can also admit men to our other Cotswold House unit in Marlborough, which has en-suite rooms and can accommodate several male patients at a time.

"We rarely, however, need to admit more than one man at a time. While we do not run any specific programmes for our men, the treatment we offer caters for both sexes and we tailor all our patients’ care plans to meet their individual needs."

Sign the e-petition here.