Charities raise concerns as NHS struggles to cope with rising number of patients with eating disorders
Mental health charities have hit out after it was revealed patients with eating disorders in England were being sent to Scotland for treatment.
Chronic bed shortages mean NHS England is sending seriously ill patients with conditions such as anorexia and bulimia to Scotland because NHS England can’t cope with demand.
Mostly teenagers and young adults are being made to receive residential care in in Glasgow and Edinburgh - hundred of miles from their homes.
Campaigners say the practise is particularly dangerous because it removes highly vulnerable patients away from their core support network – their friends and family.
Jane Smith, chief executive of Anorexia and Bulimia Care, said: “I’ve seen a rise in calls from people saying their children have been sent far away, miles away, to be looked after because there are either no services nearby or they are full.
“This is a life-threatening situation for young people. People are in inpatient care because they are at risk of dying. They are in a very fragile, risky state.”
Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, said the practice was “completely unacceptable” acknowledging NHS England’s children and adolescent mental health services were its worst area of care.
He said a resolution to the practise was now a priority area for his department.
Rebecca Doidge, 20, from St Albans in Hertfordshire, travelled to Glasgow where she spent six months in the Priory private hospital. She said that while she reveived good care, being treated so far away created significant problems for already vulnerable patients.
“The outcomes are going to be better if you can stay near home,” she said. “It’s really hard to integrate back home or go to another environment when discharged if you are in a different country. It makes communication between those treating you in hospital and those at home difficult.”
Sarah Brennan, chief executive of Young Minds, said: “For many young people the distance from family and friends is one of their biggest fears when they are hospitalised. Being separated from loved ones doesn’t help with recovery and makes the stress of hospitalisation worse.”
A spokeswoman for the Priory hospital in Glasgow said it took patients from all over the UK. “The Priory hospital in Glasgow has a reputation for providing some of the highest standards of mental healthcare in the country, and has been given a ‘very good’ rating by our regulator, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, for staffing, management, information to patients, and the environment it offers those we care for. As such, we support patients from across the UK and overseas.”
A spokeswoman for NHS England responded: “The NHS recently laid out very clear plans to expand staff and services for specialist eating disorders and other mental health problems, in order to tackle and eliminate distant out-of-area placements.
“To help achieve this, the government has allocated a cumulative £1.4 billon to children and young people’s mental health services over the next five years, and the new waiting time for eating disorder patients will ensure patients get better care more quickly.”
