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Showing results for tags 'Eating disorder'.
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News Article
NHS must stop sending eating disorder patients to die, watchdog says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS teams are giving up on patients with severe eating disorders, sending them for care reserved for the dying rather than trying to treat them, a watchdog has warned the government. In a letter to minister Maria Caulfield, the parliamentary health service ombudsman Rob Behrens has hit out at the government and the NHS for failures in care for adults with eating disorders despite warnings first made by his office in 2017. The letter, seen by The Independent, urged the minister to act after Mr Behrens heard evidence that eating disorder patients deemed “too difficult to treat” are being offered palliative care instead of treatment to help them recover. The ombudsman first warned the government that “avoidable harm” was occurring and patients were being repeatedly failed by NHS systems in 2017, following an investigation into the death of Averil Hart. The 19-year-old died while under the care of adult eating disorder services in Norfolk and Cambridge. In 2021, following an inquest into her death and the deaths of four other women, a senior coroner for Cambridge, Sean Horstead, also sent warnings to the government about adult community eating disorder services. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 March 2024 -
News Article
Health services for eating disorders overrun
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health services for Londoners with eating disorders are struggling to cope with demand, a new report warns. Data from London's mental health trusts shows adult referrals have increased by 56% - from 3,000 to nearly 8,000 - in the last six years Child and adolescent referrals increased by 158%, from 1,400 to 4,000, in the same time period. The report has been compiled by the London Assembly's health committee. It has made 12 recommendations to London Mayor Sadiq Khan and City Hall officers, which include assessing other physical and mental health indicators as well as just patients' bodyweight as per their BMI. One consultant clinical psychologist told the committee that "almost all of the eating disorder services in London do not have the staffing levels available to safely provide the care required". Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 March 2024 -
Content ArticleIn June 2023, the London Assembly Health Committee launched an investigation into eating disorders in London, following reports that referrals for eating disorder services have increased in recent years and performance against waiting time standards dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this investigation was to understand what is driving the increase in referrals, how services are responding to this additional demand and to explore people’s access to, experiences of, and outcomes from treatment services. The Committee held two formal meetings with expert guests, including clinicians, people with experience of living with an eating disorder, and representatives from the Greater London Authority and NHS England. It also held a private session with people with lived experience of being affected by an eating disorder and received 112 responses to its survey from those with experience of an eating disorder, supporting a family member or friend with an eating disorder or those working with those experiencing an eating disorder.
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News Article
RCPsych calls for an end to children’s eating disorders crisis
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Child and adolescent eating disorder services have never achieved NHS waiting time targets, and are not able to meet significant demand, according to analysis by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Psychiatrists can identify and address many of the root causes of eating disorders, including neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD. However, a current lack of capacity prevents this from happening. Due to a lack of resources, even children who meet the threshold for specialist eating disorder services are often in physical and mental health crisis by the time they are seen. Delays in treatment cause children with eating disorders physical and mental harm. NHS England set a target for 95% of children and young people with an urgent eating disorder referral to be seen within a week, and for 95% of routine referrals to be seen within four weeks. These standards have not been achieved nationwide, since they were introduced in 2021. RCPsych analysis of the latest data shows that just 63.8% of children and young people needing urgent treatment from eating disorder services were seen within one week. Only 79.4% of children and young people with a routine referral were seen within four weeks. The College also warns that there is an unacceptable gap between the number of children being referred to specialist eating disorders services, and those being seen. This is driven by a shortfall in the number of trained therapists and eating disorders psychiatrists. For Eating Disorders Awareness Week, the Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling on Government and Integrated Care Boards to invest in targeted support for children and young people to reverse this eating disorders crisis. The call is backed by the UK’s eating disorder charity Beat. Read full story Source: Royal College of Psychiatrists, 29 February 2024 Further reading on the hub: For Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Patient Safety Learning has pulled together 10 useful resources shared on the hub to help healthcare professionals, friends and family support people with eating disorders. -
Content Article
Top picks: Ten resources on eating disorders
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Eating disorders
Eating Disorders Awareness Week takes place 26 February - 3 March 2024 Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that affect an estimated 1.25 million people in the UK. There are many unhelpful myths about who eating disorders affect, what the symptoms are and how to support people in recovery. Alongside a current lack of appropriately trained staff and capacity in mental health services, this can make it challenging for people with eating disorders to access the help and support they need. Patient Safety Learning has pulled together ten useful resources shared on the hub to help healthcare professionals, friends and family support people with eating disorders. They include awareness-raising articles, practical tips for patients and their loved ones, and clinical guidance for primary, secondary and mental health providers. -
Content ArticleAvoidant/restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a severe feeding and eating disorder marked by food avoidance and/or restricted food intake. Individuals with ARFID can restrict the amount of food eaten, and therefore do not get enough calories, or they can restrict the range of foods eaten and therefore do not get all the nutrients needed for maintaining health. ARFID differs from the generalised term “picky eating”. Many people may experience picky eating at some point in their lives. Individuals with ARFID experience severe health and psychological consequences resulting from their disordered eating, which is not the case for picky eating. Also, some individuals with ARFID are not picky about the types of foods they eat, but they limit the amount of food they eat due to low appetite or lack of interest in food. Referrals for ARFID are increasing, but health services lack an evidence base to support individuals with ARFID effectively
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Content ArticleTo tackle the serious harms, up to and including death, associated with eating disorders it is crucial that more is done to identify them at the earliest stage possible so that the appropriate care and treatment can be provided. This new guidance by the Royal College of Psychiatrists is based on the advice and recommendations of an Expert Working Group. It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest evidence associated with eating disorders, including highlighting the importance and role of healthcare professionals from right across the spectrum recognising their responsibilities in this area.
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News Article
UK eating disorder charity says calls from people with Arfid have risen sevenfold
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of people in the UK who have avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (Arfid), in which those afflicted avoid many foods, has risen sevenfold in five years, figures show. The eating disorders charity Beat received 295 calls about Arfid in 2018 – comprising 2% of its 20,535 inquiries that year. However, it received 2,054 calls last year, which accounted for one in 10 of its 20,535 requests for help. Many were from children and young people or their parents. Andrew Radford, Beat’s chief executive, said: “It’s extremely worrying that there has been such a dramatic increase in those seeking support for Arfid, particularly as specialist care isn’t always readily available.” Patchy provision of NHS help meant many people were experiencing long delays before accessing support, he added. Eight in 10 eating disorder service providers did not state on their website whether or not they offered Arfid care, research by Beat found. “All too often we hear from people who have been unable to get treatment close to home or have faced waits of months or even years to get the help they need,” Radford said. Arfid is much less well-known than anorexia or bulimia. It is “an eating disorder that rarely gets the attention it deserves”. The sharp increase in cases should prompt NHS chiefs to end the postcode lottery in care for Arfid and ensure that every region of England had a team of staff fully trained to treat it, he added. “Unlike other eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, Arfid isn’t driven by feelings around [someone’s] weight or shape,” Radford said. “Instead, it might be due to having sensory issues around the texture or taste of certain foods, fear about eating due to distressing experiences with food, for example choking, or lack of interest in eating.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2024 -
Content ArticleIn this Guardian opinion piece, John Harris looks at reports of people with severe eating disorders being discharged from NHS services in the East of England. He shares the stories of several patients who are desperate to recover from their eating disorders, but have been discharged from specialist services because they are not showing progress in recovery. The article looks at the growth of a narrative that suggests some patients should not be treated if their eating disorder has reached a very severe state and highlights the way that this may be affecting practice and posing a significant risk to patient safety.
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Content ArticleSarah Rainey talks to Olivia Djouadi about her experience of type 1 diabetes with disordered eating (T1DE), which is thought to affect up to 40% of women and 15% of men with type 1 diabetes. People with T1DE, sometimes also called diabulimia, limit their insulin intake to control their weight, which can have life-threatening consequences. Olivia describes how the stress of living with type 1 contributed to her developing T1DE, and how when she finally received treatment and support in her 30s, she was able to deal with her disordered eating and see her health and wellbeing improve.
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Content Article
Top picks for Mental Health Day
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
This year, WHO's World Mental Health Day on 10 October will focus on the theme 'Mental health is a universal human right'. To mark World Mental Health Day, we’ve pulled together 10 resources, blogs and reports from the hub that focus on improving patient safety across different aspects of mental health services. -
News Article“So you’re just gonna leave me to die? That’s what you’re doing? Because I can’t do that, I’m telling you: I’ve been trying to do that, and I can’t. So now what?” Over a year on, Amy, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is still waiting for an answer – and for the help she desperately needs. The 30-year-old, who has battled anorexia since she was 16 and has been admitted to hospital multiple times, was responding to her eating disorder psychiatrist telling her the service could no longer help her. Amy was told to try to get better on her own by upping her calorie intake, and was warned that she could only be referred to her GP for emergency help if her BMI dropped below 13. A healthy level is between 18 and 25. She is just one example of what experts fear is a growing number of patients who are being told they are “too thin” for care, as stretched NHS services attempt to “ration” the help they offer in an effort to manage demand. Amy complained to the NHS East of England commissioners about the decision by psychiatrists to withdraw her treatment. In a response seen by The Independent, the service treating Amy admitted the move was not conventional. “The decision to use this approach is not taken lightly, but is seen as positive risk management, intended to empower the person to meet their goals for recovery with the support of their GP, who will medically monitor their health, with a clear aim of [the service] ultimately engaging the person in active treatment following a period of self-recovery,” it said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 August 2023 Related reading on the hub: People with eating disorders should not face stigma in the health system and barriers to accessing support in 2022
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Content Article
Eating disorders training for health and care staff
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Eating disorders
This series of training programmes was collaboratively developed by eating disorder charity Beat, Health Education England and NHSE. It was developed in response to the 2017 PHSO investigation into avoidable deaths from eating disorders, as outlined in recommendations from the report Ignoring the Alarms: How NHS Eating Disorder Services Are Failing Patients. It is designed to ensure that healthcare staff are trained to understand, identify and respond appropriately when faced with a patient with a possible eating disorder. It includes sessions relevant for different healthcare professionals and includes: Medical students and foundation doctors programme Nursing workforce sessions GP and Primary care workforce sessions Medical Monitoring in eating disorders Understanding Eating Disorders Webinar resource for dietitians, oral health teams and community pharmacy teams -
News Article
Patients ‘not thin enough’ for help as NHS battles eating disorder crisis
Patient_Safety_Learning posted a news article in News
Desperately ill people with eating disorders are being refused NHS treatment for “not being thin enough”, as new figures reveal the health service is in the grips of a growing eating disorder crisis. Shocking figures obtained by The Independent show at least 5,385 patients – the overwhelming majority, 3,896, of whom are children – were admitted to general wards for conditions such as anorexia and bulimia in 2021-22, more than double the number in 2017-18. It comes as separate analysis of NHS figures suggests the number of children being treated for eating disorders more than doubled from 5,240 in 2016-17 to 11,800 in 2022-23. Read full story Source: Independent 1 August 2023 -
Content ArticleThis opinion piece in the Journal of Eating Disorders looks at the use of the diagnosis 'terminal anorexia' and its impact on people with anorexia nervosa, their families and the healthcare professionals working with them. Alykhan Asaria offers a lived-experience perspective on how the term may cause distress and harm to patients, feeding the narrative power of an individual's eating disorder. The article also talks about how the term can remove hope from patients, families and clinicians, and how it might set a dangerous precedent in paving the way for people with other mental health conditions to be labelled 'terminal'.
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News Article
Sharp rise in teenage girls with eating disorders during Covid
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
GP records show a sharp rise in teenage girls in the UK developing eating disorders and self-harming during the Covid pandemic, a study has found. The increases were greatest among girls living in the wealthiest areas, which could be due to better GP access. Young women have told the BBC that the lack of control over their lives during lockdown was a behavioural trigger. Eating disorders and self-harming have been rising among children and young people for a number of years but "increased substantially" between 2020 and 2022, the study found. Over that period, around 2,700 diagnoses of eating disorders were anticipated among 13-16-year-olds, but 3,862 were actually observed - 42% more than the expected figure. Dr Shruti Garg, from the University of Manchester - a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the study author - called it a "staggering rise" which highlighted an urgent need to improve early access to support. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 June 2023 -
Content ArticleThe MindEd all-age eating disorders hub is aimed at all professionals, from universal to specialist. It contains key trusted evidence-based learning, curated and approved by an expert panel. The hub contains the following information:NHS policy guidanceProfessional bodies' guidanceProfessional associations' reportsCharitiesNHS learning and good practiceLegislation and reportsKey and influential textsUnder-served populations
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News ArticleA US organisation that supports people with eating disorders has suspended use of a chatbot after reports it shared harmful advice. The National Eating Disorder Association (Neda) recently closed its live helpline and directed people seeking help to other resources, including the chatbot. The AI bot, named "Tessa," has been taken down, the association said. It will be investigating reports about the bot's behaviour. In recent weeks, some social media users posted screenshots of their experience with the chatbot online. They said the bot continued to recommend behaviours like calorie restriction and dieting, even after it was told the user had an eating disorder. For patients already struggling with stigma around their weight, further encouragement to shed pounds can lead to disordered eating behaviours like bingeing, restricting or purging, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 June 2023
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News Article
Online UK pharmacies prescribing weight loss jabs to people with healthy BMI
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Online pharmacies operating in the UK are approving and dispatching prescriptions of controversial slimming jabs for people of a healthy weight, a Guardian investigation has found. Some pharmacies appear to be issuing prescriptions of such medications to people who lie about their body mass index (BMI) on an online form. In one case a reporter was issued a prescription after accurately saying their BMI was about 20. A healthy BMI lies between 18.5 and 24.9. The findings have raised alarm among eating disorder charities, which have warned that weight-loss medications should only be sold under the strictest conditions. Their concern has prompted calls for online pharmacies to employ stronger health checks and screening for eating disorders. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 May 2023 -
News Article
Scandal of mentally ill children dumped on the wrong hospital wards
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of children in mental health crisis are being treated on inappropriate general wards – with some forced to stay for more than a year and staff not properly trained to care for them, shocking new data reveals. New figures uncovered by The Independent show at least 2,838 children needing mental health care were admitted to non-psychiatric hospitals last year as the NHS battled with a lack of specialist staff and a surge in patients. Children with eating disorders – who often need to be restrained to be fed through tubes – are among those being routinely put on general wards. It means staff without any specialist training, including security guards, are sometimes left to restrain these young patients. One trust chief nurse told The Independent that porters had to be trained to restrain children on paediatric wards, causing trauma for both patients and staff. Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said she was “deeply concerned” about the situation. “We now find ourselves in a situation where children and young people who have an eating disorder or mental ill health, and who may be on long waiting lists for treatment, are increasingly ending up in emergency settings and then being treated on general paediatric wards. This simply isn’t good enough,” she said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 May 2023 -
News ArticleYoung people with eating disorders are coming to harm and ending up in A&E because they are being denied care and forced to endure long waits for treatment, GPs have revealed. NHS eating disorders services are so overwhelmed by a post-Covid surge in problems such as anorexia that they are telling under-19s to rely on charities, their parents or self-help instead. The “truly shocking” findings about the help available to young people with often very fragile mental health emerged in a survey of 1,004 family doctors across the UK by the youth mental health charity stem4. The shortage of beds for children and young people with eating disorders is so serious that some are being sent hundreds of miles from home or ending up on adult psychiatric wards, GPs say. “The provision is awful and I worry my young patients may die,” one GP in the south-east of England told stem4. Another described the specialist NHS services available in their area as “virtually non-existent and not fit for purpose”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 March 2023
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News Article
Unregulated ‘eating disorder coaches’ putting people at risk, say experts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Vulnerable mental health patients are being put at risk by unregulated “eating disorder coaches” who do not have the necessary qualifications, experts have said. As demand for eating disorder support soars – hospital admissions for eating disorders increased by 84% in the last five years – more people are filling gaps in NHS care. So-called eating disorder coaches, who tend to be personal trainers or dietitians recovering from the illness themselves, are charging as much as £1,000 a month for sessions to offer support to others despite having little or no training and expertise. The Guardian has found that many coaches cite short courses, which are intended as professional development for psychologists, as a qualification to practise. The National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCED) offers a number of professional training courses, accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). The Guardian found a number of coaches were using these courses to claim they were qualified to offer professional services to people with eating disorders. Agnes Ayton, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ eating disorders faculty, said she was “amazed” to see people “advertising themselves as experts after going on one course”. “Eating disorders sit between physical and mental health so the risks associated with eating disorders can be physically debilitating and potentially fatal,” Ayton said. “I don’t know why there is not better regulation on that because there is lots of regulation for a medical professional – but therapy is the first line of treatment for eating disorders, and if it is not delivered properly, it can be harmful or misleading.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 March 2023 -
News Article
Age discrimination leading to avoidable eating disorder deaths, government warned
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The government must end “age discrimination” against eating disorder patients that is causing avoidable deaths, experts have warned. A cross-party parliamentary group and the Royal College of Psychiatrists are calling for access targets to make sure adults with eating disorders get treated within a set time. The demands come after the healthcare watchdog said patients were dying while waiting to be seen. Wera Hobhouse, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group, and Agnes Ayton, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ eating disorder committee, said the targets must be equal to those for children, which were set in 2016. According to the Health Service Journal, 19 patients under the care of inpatient and community eating disorder services have died since 2017. A senior coroner in Norfolk also highlighted failings in 2019 and sent a warning to both NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care, over the deaths of five young women. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 March 2023 To support Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we have pulled together eight useful resources to help healthcare professionals, friends and family support people with eating disorders: Top picks: Eight resources on eating disorders -
News ArticleOver half of men with an eating disorder have never had any treatment, according to new research. Despite typically being linked with females, males account for a quarter of all eating disorder cases – and many are not getting any support, the eating disorder charity Beat is highlighting “Eating disorders affect 1.25 million people in the UK, and we estimate one in four of those are men,” says Tom Quinn, Beat’s director of external affairs – speaking to mark this year’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 27 – March 5). “We surveyed men across the UK about their experiences of an eating disorder and, alarmingly, we discovered over half have never had treatment for their eating disorder, and one in three have never tried to get treatment in the first place. “There’s a harmful misconception that eating disorders are female illnesses, which creates a great deal of shame and can entrench harmful behaviours for men who are unwell,” Quinn adds. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 February 2023 Further reading on the hub: Top picks: Eight resources on eating disorders
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News Article
Eating disorder patients ‘repeatedly failed’, says England watchdog
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Urgent action is needed to prevent people dying from eating disorders, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman for England has warned, as he said those affected are being “repeatedly failed”. The NHS needs a “complete culture change” in how it approaches the condition, while ministers must make it a “key priority”, according to Rob Behrens. Little progress has been made since the publication of a devastating report by his office in 2017, which highlighted “serious failings” in eating disorder services, he said. Lives continue to be lost because of “the lack of parity between child and adult services”, and “poor coordination” between NHS staff involved in treating patients. There remain issues with the training of medical professionals, Behrens added. “We raised concerns six years ago in our ignoring the alarms report, so it’s extremely disappointing to see the same issues still occurring,” he said. “Small steps in improvements have been taken, but progress has been slow, and we need to see a much bigger shift in the way eating disorder services are delivered." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2023
