Patients are being “excluded” from life-saving eating disorder treatment as services are “severely underfunded”, experts have warned.
Adult eating disorder services are so “severely” underfunded and understaffed they are having to employ “rationing” measures and turn away patients, leading psychiatrist Dr Agnes Aynton has told The Independent.
Dr Ayton and 22 other psychiatrists have found just 31 per cent of eating disorder services accepted all patients regardless of the level of illness in 2019-20, according to the new research.
The researchers warned that the situation has become worse following the pandemic as it has driven a “worsening of the demand and capacity” crisis across adult eating disorder services.
Experts have called for “emergency” funding for adult eating disorder services and say services should be receiving at least £7 million per million patients each year to meet standards.
Dr Ayton warned patients “literally on death’s door” are not getting care when they need it.
In an interview with The Independent Dr Agnes Ayton said: “A lot of services are actually excluding patients. The services are so underfunded that they have to have some sort of rationing measure. rationing could be Body Mass Index.”
Under current service standards, eating disorder referrals should not refuse any patients based on their body mass index.
Dr Ayton added that since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a surge in need alongside a reduction in capacity accross teams,
She said: “What we have also shown with this paper is that services are offering substandard care. People feel they can’t meet the standards, meet some of the basic standards around managing risk safely.. patients will deteriorate and end up in a life-threatening situation will end up in an acute hospital.
According to the findings, just 54 per cent were able to offer treatment to national standards, 94 per cent had a waiting list, and just 34 per cent reported their services had seen a funding increase since 2014-15.
Tom Quinn, director of external affairs for charity Beat said: “It’s deeply concerning that adult community eating disorder services in England and Scotland are not getting the staffing or funding that they need, and this research must serve as a wake-up call for action.
“These findings highlight the lack of support for adults with eating disorders and the urgent need for investment, but given when this research was conducted we know that the situation is almost certainly worse than the one highlighted.”
According to Beat, despite guidance, patients are still being turned away from services due to their BMI or the severity of their illness.
Joss Walden, 31 years old, was diagnosed at 15 with anorexia and quickly referred to children’s mental health services and went through several inpatient admissions.
However, she said difficulties in accessing care started when she was 18 and she “slipped through the gaps”.
She said: “Suddenly, the whole kind of approach changed and it was like just go to your GPs once a week and be weighed.”
“I was so unwell and began kind of fearing for my own life. I started ringing inpatient hospitals in London, from my phone being like, I really need some help, I need some like intensive help.”
However, when raining these services she was told her BMI isn’t low enough.
