100 signatures reached
To: Jeremy Hunt MP, Department of Health, NHS England
End the wait for eating disorder treatment
This petition calls for an increase in funding for eating disorder services to ensure waiting times targets can be met, so that those who need support can access care regardless of their BMI. It calls for an assessment of the current eating disorder framework, to review ALL eating disorders and assess referrals on mental stability as well as physical capacity.
Why is this important?
In his portfolio as Care minister, Norman Lamb made strides in parity of esteem for mental health, but promises need to be kept.
In April 2015, maximum waiting times standards for mental health were introduced, but how are specialist services going to meet these targets?
Without the targets, very ill patients are waiting over a year for an assessment. There simply isn't enough appointments, services or professionals.
Secondly, the NHS England specialist criteria dictates that patients can only receive treatment when they have reached a critical point. This contradicts all evidence on early intervention.
1.6 Million people in the UK suffer with an eating disorder.
This evidence is based on NICE research carried out in 2004. Recently reports have highlighted that numbers of hospital admissions amongst teenagers have doubled in two years.
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses. 1 in 5 people can die from complications or suicide. They have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. However sufferers are also able to recover.
Like with cancer, if an eating disorder sufferer is able to access treatment early their chances of making a full recovery are greatly increased.
If treatment is delayed or intermittent treatment can become costly leading to hospital admissions, additional complications and costs to other areas in their life such as work, school, housing and social relationships.
I, have first hand experience of this, and know many others who have been turned away from treatment to devastating effects.
I have often said that you wouldn't turn a patient with a broken leg away from A & E and expect them to wait till the other leg was broken.
My own case study saw me relapse with my eating disorder. I had previously had intensive inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa, but sometimes you just aren't fixed straight away, or you haven't learned to cope alone fully, which is what happened to me further down the line. I was strong enough to recognise that things were going wrong, but having waited a year for a referral and my mental wellbeing falling off a cliff I was getting desperate. When eventually I did get my assessment, I was told my condition wasn't serious enough to meet the criteria, and was discharged. During this process, I lost a lot more weight, and ended up in A & E with malnutrition.
I have since received private outpatient treatment, which my parents have supported me with and am now in a stable place. I still have bad days, but I am a lot stronger and am positive in my ability to recover.
My outpatient therapy lasted a year and 3 months, and cost £25 a week for a therapist (trainee to keep costs low) and £105 a fortnight for a dietitian. I saw a consultant at a reduced rate of £50 for 30 mins 3 times over a year.
This should be the minimum for eating disorders outpatient treatment, and yet I would not have got both even if I had got outpatient treatment through the NHS. For eating disorders you need to tackle the physical and the mental side by side in recovery.
I haven't gone into too much detail about BMI and criteria, but when I was told I didn't meet their strict criteria for treatment, I did a lot of investigating and was able to deduce what this meant via NHS England (official source). Due to a lack of funding the criteria is only set up to treat patients when their illness requires a physical intervention. This focusses more on severe anorexia nervosa and occasionally bulimia nervosa. However, the challenge is that by the time patients reach this point inpatient is the only option, and a lengthy admission is needed to save a life, becoming A & E for eating disorders. The crisis is when someone requires a bed, and there are no beds available, before a person is ready for discharge. The current method is not focussing on prevention, but focussing on interim solutions. If the NHS wants to save money, it needs to be innovative and focus on a criteria which is preventative, backed up by all the calls that early intervention is cost effective and saves lives. Furthermore this approach reaches a broader number of diagnosis's which the current criteria ignores.
PLEASE SIGN THIS IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/14/eating-disorders-long-waits-nhs-treatment-lives-risk#comments
In April 2015, maximum waiting times standards for mental health were introduced, but how are specialist services going to meet these targets?
Without the targets, very ill patients are waiting over a year for an assessment. There simply isn't enough appointments, services or professionals.
Secondly, the NHS England specialist criteria dictates that patients can only receive treatment when they have reached a critical point. This contradicts all evidence on early intervention.
1.6 Million people in the UK suffer with an eating disorder.
This evidence is based on NICE research carried out in 2004. Recently reports have highlighted that numbers of hospital admissions amongst teenagers have doubled in two years.
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses. 1 in 5 people can die from complications or suicide. They have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. However sufferers are also able to recover.
Like with cancer, if an eating disorder sufferer is able to access treatment early their chances of making a full recovery are greatly increased.
If treatment is delayed or intermittent treatment can become costly leading to hospital admissions, additional complications and costs to other areas in their life such as work, school, housing and social relationships.
I, have first hand experience of this, and know many others who have been turned away from treatment to devastating effects.
I have often said that you wouldn't turn a patient with a broken leg away from A & E and expect them to wait till the other leg was broken.
My own case study saw me relapse with my eating disorder. I had previously had intensive inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa, but sometimes you just aren't fixed straight away, or you haven't learned to cope alone fully, which is what happened to me further down the line. I was strong enough to recognise that things were going wrong, but having waited a year for a referral and my mental wellbeing falling off a cliff I was getting desperate. When eventually I did get my assessment, I was told my condition wasn't serious enough to meet the criteria, and was discharged. During this process, I lost a lot more weight, and ended up in A & E with malnutrition.
I have since received private outpatient treatment, which my parents have supported me with and am now in a stable place. I still have bad days, but I am a lot stronger and am positive in my ability to recover.
My outpatient therapy lasted a year and 3 months, and cost £25 a week for a therapist (trainee to keep costs low) and £105 a fortnight for a dietitian. I saw a consultant at a reduced rate of £50 for 30 mins 3 times over a year.
This should be the minimum for eating disorders outpatient treatment, and yet I would not have got both even if I had got outpatient treatment through the NHS. For eating disorders you need to tackle the physical and the mental side by side in recovery.
I haven't gone into too much detail about BMI and criteria, but when I was told I didn't meet their strict criteria for treatment, I did a lot of investigating and was able to deduce what this meant via NHS England (official source). Due to a lack of funding the criteria is only set up to treat patients when their illness requires a physical intervention. This focusses more on severe anorexia nervosa and occasionally bulimia nervosa. However, the challenge is that by the time patients reach this point inpatient is the only option, and a lengthy admission is needed to save a life, becoming A & E for eating disorders. The crisis is when someone requires a bed, and there are no beds available, before a person is ready for discharge. The current method is not focussing on prevention, but focussing on interim solutions. If the NHS wants to save money, it needs to be innovative and focus on a criteria which is preventative, backed up by all the calls that early intervention is cost effective and saves lives. Furthermore this approach reaches a broader number of diagnosis's which the current criteria ignores.
PLEASE SIGN THIS IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/14/eating-disorders-long-waits-nhs-treatment-lives-risk#comments
