Eating disorder team’s success

7:51pm Tuesday 26th February 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

MORE than 50 people have been referred to a new service for people suffering from eating disorders since it was launched in North Yorkshire last month.

The news comes at the start of Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which is being supported by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT).

More than 13,000 people in North Yorkshire are diagnosed with either anorexia or bulimia every year and new figures reveal that one woman in 20 has eating habits which give cause for concern.

The PCT's new eating disorder network aims to reduce hospital stays by providing specialist support to patients in the community to help them prevent, manage and overcome a range of eating disorders.

It is designed to catch people early before these disorders become serious.

The news comes the day after The Press revealed how one in ten York children are obese by the time they start primary school and that one third of children were outside the healthy weight range by the time they left primary school.

Kay Thwaite, manager of the new service, said: "Since January, the service has had over 50 direct referrals, with eating disorder conditions ranging from the need for acute, emergency admission to long-standing difficulties stretching back over 20 years.

"There have been a further 25 requests for advice and consultation from multi-agency colleagues, and the service has so far responded to six direct calls from service users wanting to know where they can access help.

"We are really pleased at the enthusiastic reception from individuals and services across the county."

The success of the service has prompted the PCT to set up an Eating Issues Group in Scarborough and extra mental health awareness training for front-line staff in Harrogate.

Jane Marshall, the PCT's director of commissioning and service development, said: "The PCT supports Eating Disorder Awareness Week as part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the help available for people with eating disorders and our commitment to providing practical medical, social and psychological support for those patients and families affected.

"The PCT will continue to work with our health care colleagues to further develop our eating disorder services and to provide patients across North Yorkshire with the best possible support which meets their individual needs."

Eating disorders do not just affect women. It is thought about ten per cent of people in the UK currently living with an eating disorder are men.