A day hospital treatment programme is described for eating disordered patients who would otherwise require inpatient treatment. The characteristics at presentation of 106 consecutive patients are described. Of patients completing the programme, 65 could be recruited for the outcome study. At presentation, 26 per cent ful®lled DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa, 65 per cent for bulimia nervosa and 9 per cent had an eating disorder not otherwise speci®ed. The average length of treatment of all patients was 13 weeks. There was signi®cant weight gain among the anorectic patients and a signi®cant decrease in the average number of binges among the bulimic patients. Statistically signi®cant improvements over time for psychological, sexual and socioeconomic adjustment were also obtained. *