Post by Admin on Mar 1, 2023 19:07:57 GMT
Age discrimination leading to avoidable eating disorder deaths, government warned
Story by Rebecca Thomas
www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/age-discrimination-leading-to-avoidable-eating-disorder-deaths-government-warned/ar-AA185Vdm
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 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.
Their calls come after The Independent revealed thousands of adults were waiting more than three months for treatment from referral.
Have you been impacted by this story? email rebecca.thomas@independent.co.uk
During eating disorders awareness week this week, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman published a report warning that patients were dying due to the lack of equality between child and adult services.
The watchdog’s latest report was prompted by the death of a 35-year-old college teacher from an eating disorder.
In the report, it said little progress had been made since its 2017 warning and that “people with eating disorders are being repeatedly failed by the system”.
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.
There is currently no target for the NHS for access to adult eating disorder services. That is despite a target for 95 per cent of urgent child referrals to be seen within a week and a four-week target for routine referrals.
However, the NHS is struggling to meet that target, with 77 per cent of urgent child referrals seen within a week and 80 per cent of routine referrals seen within four.
Story by Rebecca Thomas
www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/age-discrimination-leading-to-avoidable-eating-disorder-deaths-government-warned/ar-AA185Vdm
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 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.
Their calls come after The Independent revealed thousands of adults were waiting more than three months for treatment from referral.
Have you been impacted by this story? email rebecca.thomas@independent.co.uk
During eating disorders awareness week this week, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman published a report warning that patients were dying due to the lack of equality between child and adult services.
The watchdog’s latest report was prompted by the death of a 35-year-old college teacher from an eating disorder.
In the report, it said little progress had been made since its 2017 warning and that “people with eating disorders are being repeatedly failed by the system”.
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.
There is currently no target for the NHS for access to adult eating disorder services. That is despite a target for 95 per cent of urgent child referrals to be seen within a week and a four-week target for routine referrals.
However, the NHS is struggling to meet that target, with 77 per cent of urgent child referrals seen within a week and 80 per cent of routine referrals seen within four.