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We want to use our 21st year to campaign for the services and support that you want and need to help beat eating disorders. On Monday 22nd February we launched our manifesto which we will use to lobby the Government. You can download the manifesto and use it to raise awareness with your MP, local health service and help us campaign for change.
We had a successful campaign in Eating Disorders Awareness Week in February, and we are continuing from this success with the next issues we need to focus on, which are the issues you have highlighted to us.
There are several ways in which you can get involved:
- lobby your MP: take the manifesto to their monthly surgery, write to them, tweet them on twitter.
- join your Local Involvement Network (LINk)
- raise awareness locally: put up posters and information in local community venues
To receive a campaign pack click here
Liberating the NHS?
The new Government has published a white paper, 'Liberating the NHS', detailing their approach to the National Health Service and how services should be commissioned and delivered.
This is an important opportunity for you to help us campaign, to raise awareness of eating disorders and make sure that the restructured NHS provides the treatment and support that people need.
The restructure involves abolishing Primary Care Trusts, who currently commission all services. Some low volume, high intensity services, which includes specialist eating disorder services, are provided separately and will not be affected by this restructure. However, these specialist services are not appropriate for people with moderate eating disorders, so our campaigning will include helping the NHS to understand the needs of these people, and why they need treatment and support to prevent their eating disorder worsening.
Our campaign is focused on raising awareness of eating disorders in primary care, making sure that GPs can recognise eating disorders and provide appropriate treatment and care for sufferers and their families and carers.
The new GP commissioning groups will be able to commission local services, and we want them to understand the importance of self help and support groups and help them to provide the services that people in their area need.
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Contacting your MP
To find your local MP's contact details click here, the findyourmp site contains details of What MPs do, Contacting your MP , When to contact your MP , What your MP can do for you , You and your MP (multiple languages)
You can also tweet your MP on twitter, search for them, find them on our list @beatED/MPS or type in your postcode to see if they tweet.
Tips for your MP appointment
- Write down your main points and take them with you, you can use them as reference or hand them to the MP if you run out of time
- Take a copy of the beat manifesto (request a campaign pack here)
- Take some beat leaflets with you and refer them to the website
- Give them ideas for how they can help raise awareness
- Try to get firm commitments from them and establish what they will do
- Write to them afterwards and thank them for the meeting and for any promises they have made
Tweet your MP
Many MPs are using the social networking website Twitter to have a direct contact with their constituents. We have put a list of all the MPs who are registered on Twitter on our profile page. You can access Twitter here and then find out profile beatED. If you go to the list you can find your MP and tweet them about beat 21 and the manifesto and use this new medium to campaign, alongside the more conventional methods of campaigning.
Instructions on how to join Twitter are available at the top of this page to guide you through the process. It also give you details on how to send messages so you can show your support for our campaign.
Join your Local Involvement Network
Every area has a patient involvement forum, known as LINk groups. These groups have powers to question NHS services and are valuable tools for engaging with local services. They bring together people interested in specific issues, and provide a collective, local voice for those issues. You can find the details of your local LINk through your local NHS website or your GP surgery. Please let us know id you have joined your LINk and we can help you put questions and comments forward through them. To find out more please contact info@b-eat.co.uk or call 0300 123 3355.
Become a Media Contact
We are always looking for more people to tell their stories in the media. We have daily requests to provide case studies to make interesting stories that people can relate to. If you have personal or family experience of an eating disorder we would love to hear from you. We provide full support for all our contacts and provide guidance on how to answer questions and get your story and recovery messages across. To find out more email media@b-eat.co.uk or call 0300 123 7061.
