Children facing eating disorder support ‘lottery’
More staff needed, say psychiatrists
A “POSTCODE lottery” in the length of time vulnerable children are waiting for help with eating disorders has been highlighted by leading psychiatrists.
They called for more specialists to be recruited after latest figures showed that parts of England are lagging well behind London for how soon youngsters are able to start urgent treatment.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists warned that while in the capital 84 per cent of urgent cases began treatment within one week, in the North of England the figure is just 68 per cent, while the rest of the country averages 72 per cent.
In London 88 per cent of routine cases began treatment within four weeks but in the North of England, just 78 per cent were seen within the one-month target.
Figures from the NHS England Dashboard show that in the South, Midlands and East of England the figure was 80 per cent.
The Royal College said the figures show that while the country is on track overall to meet the national waiting time standard for eating disorder treatment, there is still a postcode lottery.
The target is for 95 per cent of children under 19 to access treatment within a week in urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases by 2020-21.
Professor Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “These new figures show signs of improvement in how long children have to wait to get treatment for an eating disorder – but it is clear that patients are being seen quicker in some parts of the country compared to others.
“Vacancy rates still remain high outside London and it is vital that more eating disorder psychiatrists are recruited to meet with demand.
“The NHS England Dashboard is a window into what young people are experiencing on the ground, which is why we continue to examine it with scrutiny.
“It is important that we recognise where we are making positive improvements, but that we do not stop until every child has quick access to evidence-based treatment.”
Dr Ashish Kumar, a consultant psychiatrist in North-West England, said: “Psychiatry saves lives but we face big challenges in recruiting enough quality staff to create a quality service. We must ensure the additional 30 consultant psychiatry posts for community eating disorders promised by Health Education England are put in place as soon as possible to ensure we help every vulnerable child and teenager.”
An NHS England spokesman said: “This analysis is an important recognition of improvements in NHS eating disorder services.
“Whilst every region in the country has significantly increased access to children’s eating disorder treatment, today’s report is a reminder of the distance still to go, and that transforming children’s mental health care, after decades of underinvestment, is a task which cannot happen overnight.”
We face big challenges in recruiting enough quality staff. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ashish Kumar.