Eating disorder care wait times worst in 5 years
A nonprofit organisation that supports hundreds of New Zealanders with eating disorders is calling for an urgent inquiry into the way treatment is funded as access to care becomes increasingly out of reach.
In the 12 months to June, half the 230 people referred to eating disorder services around the country were waiting longer than eight weeks to be seen. That figure was 24% five years ago.
This is despite the absolute number of referrals in the past year being lower than in 2017-18 – when 258 people were referred.
But referral numbers represented ‘‘the tiny minority’’ of people with eating disorders, Nicki Wilson, a spokesperson for the Eating Disorders Association (EDANZ), said.
‘‘People are not even shown in waiting lists, because they’re not being admitted into [hospital]funded services ... The figures the [associate health] minister is seeing don’t represent the size and nature of the problem.’’
That was where organisations such as EDANZ stepped in, with demand for help twice as high now as it was before the pandemic.
The volunteer-run nonprofit received no central government funding because ‘‘it doesn’t exist,’’ Wilson said. EDANZ now wants an ‘‘urgent external review’’ involving all those in the sector.
‘‘Eating disorders are treatable – let’s get in early. But let’s find out how to do that by reviewing what we’re currently doing,’’ Wilson said.
Wellingtonian Sarah Saunders had private treatment for her eating disorder, after being told at age 17 that she was not sick enough to qualify for publicly funded treatment, despite obsessively exercising and restricting food.
A year later she was offered a sixmonth-long wait on the public list, so her family sought private treatment and the now 22-year-old considered herself recovered.
She wanted free evidence-based care to be available to everyone, saying it was ‘‘fundamentally unfair’’ if people could not access treatment because of cost.
‘‘People think it’s normal to experience disordered eating and exercise addiction, but I hope as time goes on we don’t have to live with those things,’’ Saunders said.
The investment in eating disorder services had fallen since 2017, from $15.7 million to $15.1m. A small boost in this year’s Budget allocated an extra $3.9m over four years.
Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, whose portfolio includes eating disorders, was not available for an interview.
However, Verrall provided comments to say the funding would enable shorter wait times and an increase in workforce numbers.
‘‘I certainly think people are waiting too long for eating disorders treatment – that’s why we increased the funding . . . The funding will improve the treatment for people with eating disorders,’’ Verrall said.
But National MP Matt Doocey, the party’s mental health spokesperson, claimed the Government had ‘‘no plan’’ for how the funding would be spent.
‘‘You would ask why it’s taken [Labour] five years to announce extra funding when clearly the data shows that the number of people waiting longer than eight weeks has increased year on year.’’
He said it was every parent’s worst nightmare to have a sick child, ‘‘and you go through your personal journey as a family to find the support isn’t there ... And they have to watch their kid slowly die with an eating disorder. It’s horrific.’’
It left whānau reliant on voluntary groups, such as EDANZ, to get support, he said.
Doocey backed the call for a review, to identify where investment was most needed. He wanted more of Labour’s $1.9 billion investment in mental health to go to eating disorders. ‘‘Where has all that money gone? Why has it not found its way into eating disorder services? And why is it making no material improvements?’’
The greatest solution lay in fixing the ‘‘mental health workforce crisis’’, Doocey said.
While psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists are on Immigration NZ’s green list, mental health nurses are not, meaning they must work in New Zealand for two years before being eligible for residency.