Newcastle man backs calls for more eating disorder support
It comes after the Health ombudsman ruled a 19-year-old's death from anorexia was avoidable
A Newcastle man who suffered with an eating disorder as a teenager is backing a national report calling for more support for people with eating disorders.
It's after the NHS was slammed for failings which led to the death of a teenager in Cambridge.
The Health Ombudsman's warned there are huge problems with hospital treatments and out-patient care across the Country.
Tom Rebair from Newcastle, who's lived with an eating disorder, said:
"I feel like eating disorders are quite hard - especially as a male - and it was hard at first to believe I had because you think it's just the eating.
"The hardest thing was I was still eating - but the problem was I was also running five or six times a week.
"There's too much of a waiting list - the more time that goes on, and especially with something like an eating disorder, it gets extremely dangerous because the person might seem just a bit depressed, a bit tired - but what's going on inside could be that their organs are failing massively."
Ann Dymyd, Chief Officer of NIWE Eating Distress Service said:
"We have mounting concern at the increasing incidence of eating disorders and distress in the North East.
"The impact of austerity, which is disproportionate around the UK, is severely affecting both people’s mental health and the capacity and ability of services to respond and act in a timely and appropriate way.
"We see people affected by these circumstances every day and know how much pressure there is on mental health services across the whole spectrum.”
Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, are warning that more than 725,000 people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder.
Their Chief Executive, Andrew Radford, said:
“We must see good, joined-up intensive home- and community-based treatment for people of all ages, and in all locations across the UK. This does require the NHS to reorganise but it will deliver improved outcomes for patients and considerable cost savings to the NHS.”
- “The government must invest in promoting the importance of seeking help for an eating disorder as soon as possible, so permitting early treatment which would prevent deaths."*