#JustTwoHours: Eating disorder nurse trained GPs on how to spot the signs of eating disorders during the pandemic
Retired eating disorder nurse Pam says the benefits of extra training made a big difference
A now-retired eating disorder nurse who gave extra training to GPs in eating disorders during the pandemic says it had a really positive impact.
Pam Pearce, from Derbyshire, was inspired to train as a mental health nurse, specialising in eating disorders, following her daughter's battle with bulimia.
She's joining calls for GPs to receive mandatory training in eating disorders and has told us the benefits of them receiving extra training in them.
As it stands medical undergraduates only receive on average 1.8 hours of training in them - and 1 in 5 medical schools don't provide any training at all.
"I felt totally alone"
Pam's daughter developed bulimia when she was a teenager and struggled to get help from the GP.
"Because she was around 16-years old, I wasn't allowed to know anything. I wasn't worried about what she was talking about but I wanted to know what her treatment plan would be.
"I was told I couldn't know any of that. After a short stint in hospital for appendicities, she came out and eventually she developed anorexia.
"We went back to the GP who admitted they had little to no experience with eating disorders."
Pam's daughter began to lose weight rapidly as they waited to be referred and seen by other doctors.
"I was desperate and felt totally alone. But I really pushed for her to get support which we did eventually and I then becamse a huge force behind her getting better.
"It became an obsession for me really and that's what led me into becoming very interested in mental health and eating disorders"
Two hours isn't enough
Pam eventually landed herself a job at the local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) as a nurse in the eating disorders team.
"I didn't want parents to go what we had gone through; the lack of support, the lack of facilities. It was just the worst time of my life.
"I was really passionate about training GPs. I really felt that a lot of them didn't have a lot of knowledge on how to manage people in the community, how to start the process, where to refer.
"To hear that they receive less than two hours training for something so serious and life threatening as an eating disorder was shocking."
After putting together a package of resources about eating disorders, Pam delivered it to her GP.
This then gave her the idea of expanding this into a whole scheme of training to deliver to GPs, health professionals and people who work is educational settings.
Making a difference
The training was delivered online due to coronavirus restrictions in place at the time.
Pam found this had a huge benefit as it meant the training was able to reach people beyond the local area.
"The GPs were really interested in it. They were really keen to know exactly how to start the referral process, where to refer to, what sort of information to put into the referral.
"I was also able to warn them "don't wait and watch" because that's sometimes what they tend to do with other illnesses but you just can't with eating disorders.
"Overall the response was so positive and I think really it made them more aware of what they can do to manage the indidivual in the community and make sure they don't get worse."