3 in 10 with an eating disorder being let down by their GPs
THOUSANDS of people with eating disorders are abandoned to cope without specialised care, a damning report reveals today.
At least 725,000 people in the UK suffer with disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.
Yet three out of ten patients are not referred to a specialist, despite medical guidance that stresses the need for immediate referral.
The problems, which are often caused by complex factors, can be fatal and require specialised mental health care.
Experts last night warned that GPs often do not recognise the seriousness of eating disorders and many do not understand the importance of early treatment.
The charity Beat polled 1,700 people with a history of eating disorders for their report.
Half of the patients spoken to for the research said the care they had received from a GP was ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Some 55 per cent felt their family doctor did not understand the importance of early intervention and only 34 per cent felt their GP knew how to help them.
Only one in five of these GPs provided their patients with information about eating disorders, according to the study.
And almost one in six patients switched to a different GP after not receiving the care or help they needed.
Beat chief executive Andrew Radford said: ‘We know early intervention and speed in referring people with eating disorders is critical if they are to make the best possible recovery. It takes great courage for sufferers of eating disorders to come forward and often the first person they talk to is their GP. Unfortunately many of our respondents identified poor care from their doctor with many GPs not knowing what the real signs and symptoms are.’
Professor Radford added: ‘We are calling for increased eating disorder training for medical students specialising in general practice so that all GPs are equipped to support eating disorder sufferers.
‘This isn’t about blaming GPs, it’s about enabling the 50 per cent of GPs who didn’t provide good care to be as supportive of eating disorder sufferers as the 50 per cent who did.’
Professor Helen StokesLampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘Eating disorders can have severe consequences for patients, and GPs take them very seriously.
‘The figures highlight the intense pressures GPs are under. We are highly trained to take into account the physical, psychological and social factors affecting a patient when making a diagnosis, and devel- oping a treatment plan. With complex patients – and mental health conditions are almost always very complex – this simply isn’t possible within the constraints of the standard ten-minute consultation. This is particularly true if the eating disorder was not the reason the patient visited their GP in the first place.’
Meanwhile separate research by the Sunday Telegraph showed that some children and teenagers have to wait up to 16 months to receive care for eating disorders.
Charities warned that some patients were effectively being told they could not get help until they had starved themselves further.
‘Intervention is critical’