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Found out today that someone I knew of passed away from complications resulting from an eating disorder. It’s disgusting that people in this country are dying from a treatable illness because it’s near impossible to access the treatment they desperately need + have a right to. 1/
The numbers of people reaching out for help with an eating disorder has more than doubled in the past year. Services are at breaking point, people are having to wait weeks or months for an initial assessment to determine whether they even meet the threshold for specialist help 2/
and those needing hospitalisation are being admitted in a significantly more severe physical state and requiring more intensive and lengthy treatment. GPs are the ones diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients (as happened with me) even though they don’t have the education, 3/
training, resources and access to inpatient/outpatient care that specialist services do. And despite all of this, there hasn’t been a review of services in over 10 years. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders and if we continue at the 4/
rate we’re going at now, we’re going to see more and more people dying or presenting in a worse condition than they might’ve had they received evidence based treatment in a timely manner. I’ve seen the stress and fear family members and partners experience when watching their 5/
loved one deteriorate right before their eyes because they can’t access appropriate treatment. The guilt that comes with causing this was, and still is, immense but I count myself lucky I happened to have a GP who had experience dealing with eating disorders and was able to 6/
support me even if it meant staying after hours and working through lunch breaks for them. I’m only one person and I don’t know what full solution to this issue is but I would think more money and resources being put into treatment/specialist services would be a good start. 7/
GPs should be given the right training and education to correctly diagnose eating disorders and refer patients to the correct services but the burden of treatment shouldn’t be put on them because services are being stretched to breaking point. The Eating Disorders Association 8/
NZ is also calling for a government led review into eating disorder services in this country which is something I wholeheartedly back and would love to see actioned sooner rather than later. EDANZ submitted to the mental health inquiry in 2017 and it’s disappointing to see 9/
none of the problems they raised or solutions they suggested addressed by the last government. Minister @AndrewLittleMP I know you have a lot on your plate this term but I’m sure I’m not the only one who would love to see some movement in this area! 10/
