New hope in fight to save Adele from eating disorders SAM YARWOOD
AYOUNG woman desperately trying to get help for her eating disorders has been given a bed at a specialised clinic following an 11th-hour plea by her parents.
Adele Clay has anorexia and bulimia, and last week was rushed to Stepping Hill Hospital after her heart rate became dangerously low.
Mum Yvonne said the 25-year-old’s body had begun to shut down, and both she and husband Rick were terrified their daughter would die before she got the help she needed.
Adele, from Offerton, has been fighting eating disorders since she was 12, but in the past 18 months her condition has seriously deteriorated.
Despite efforts by her family and NHS England, she was rejected by a number of hospitals for treatment – at first because she wasn’t ill enough, and more recently because she is too unwell.
In a desperate lastditch attempt to save their daughter, Yvonne and Rick turned to the media for help, and Adele has now been offered a bed at Bethlem Royal Hospital – a specialist eating disorder clinic in south London.
Rick said that Adele is out of Stepping Hill and back at home in a ‘stable’ condition.
He said: “She will be going down to London on Tuesday. We are grateful that she’s finally been given a bed, but it shouldn’t have taken this long.
“We hoped they would have been able to take her straight from Stepping Hill.
“She came home and binged on food, then made herself sick again. We were worried all night that she was going to end up back in hospital and would lose her bed in London.
“You can’t stop her when she’s doing it.”
Yvonne and Rick are still hoping a bed will come available closer to home, and fear the distance between them and their daughter will hinder her recovery.
Yvonne doesn’t work because of mobility problems, and Rick is a fulltime carer for her and Adele.
Yvonne said: “She needs her family around her, but south London is so far away. It’s frustrating when we have Cheadle Royal on our doorstep.”
A spokeswoman for the The Priory healthcare group, which the family claim refused to treat Adele at its Glasgow clinic as well as Cheadle Royal, declined to comment.
Dr Michael Gregory, clinical director, specialised commissioning NHS England North, said: “NHS England’s North West specialised mental health team is working with the family and the local Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure Adele gets the care she needs.”