Eating disorders

Mental Health Nursing,  Mar 2005  

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Eating disorder services are very patchy across the NHS and some areas have no provision campaigners have warned.

A report published last month by the Eating Disorder Association compares the treatment services being delivered, against the recommendations contained in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders, published last year.

EDA Chief executive Susan Ringwood said: 'We are very concerned that across the NHS, services are still very patchy and some areas have little or no service provision. Our survey shows 42% of GPs did not make an early diagnosis, 55% of people are not being treated by a specialist and only 17% of young people are treated in an appropriate setting. This unfortunate situation must be resolved quickly to prevent more young lives being lost to these deadly disorders.'

The report highlighted Wales as an area where patients are poorly served by the health service. Wales had no specialist adult inpatient or outpatient services, the research found. Elsewhere in Britain, a third of local health authorities had no specialist treatment services for anorexia and bulimia.

Specialists were even more stretched because the publicity about anorexia was encouraging more people affected to come forward.

"More people are coming forward for treatment and help and the specialist services across the UK are becoming overwhelmed with referrals," the report said. "The result is long waiting lists and often reduced treatment plans to address the problem, or worse, emergency admissions into already stretched medical wards."

The report comes a year after the National Institute for Clinical Excellence published guidelines setting out the best standards for the treatment of eating disorders in the NHS in England and Wales, which said people seeking help should be assessed earlier

www.edauk.com/edaw/index.htm

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