The deaths
of five women with eating disorder who were under the supervision of a trust
that provides physical, mental health and specialist care, are being linked by
a coroner amid growing concern over the treatment of anorexia patients within
the NHS and allegations their deaths were "completely avoidable".
The deaths
led assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire Sean Horstead to hear the inquests and
note the "potential" for themes common to one or more of the cases
were "obvious".
A
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) report in
April 2019 suggested the CPFT eating disorder service had experienced
"significant difficulties" in recruiting staff, meaning the threshold
for referrals was raised.
The CPFT
raising the threshold for referrals meant only patients with a body mass index
(BMI) below 15 qualified for treatment, with the average waiting time from
triage to one-to-one treatment between ten and 12 months, although urgent cases
were seen quicker.
Over one
million people in the UK are directly affected by Anorexia or Bulimia, the
deadliest of all psychiatric illnesses, with up to one in five diagnosed with
the disorder dying prematurely.
According to
doctors, most of the cases of eating disorder develop between the ages of 14
and 25, and recently patients as young as five-year-old have been treated for
Anorexia.
The disorder
has become a crisis in the UK as eating disorders overtake cyberbullying as the
top source of online concern among children between ten and 16 years of age,
The Telegraph UK cited a study as suggesting.
Averil's
father Nic Hart, who has campaigned tirelessly for justice, said patients were
dying as a direct result of NHS failure. "Services are worse than when
Averil died, not better," he added.
Hart's death
had prompted a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) report in
December 2017 to describe the tragedy as "avoidable", which could
have been prevented.
The PHSO
report titled 'Ignoring the alarms: How NHS eating disorder services are
failing patients' concluded that every single NHS organization involved in
Hart's care had failed her in some way and made anorexia treatment-related
recommendations, which largely remain unimplemented.
A public
administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC) report warned there
was a "serious lack of training" for doctors about eating disorders
as patients in most cases were discharged when they reached a certain weight,
with no guarantee their mental health had recovered.
PACAC
chairman Sir Bernard Jenkin warned the government needed to adopt a "sense
of urgency" and the NHS must learn from its mistakes.
The
country's government last month in a response committed to allocate over the
next five years more funds for mental health services than the overall NHS
budget, The Telegraph UK reported.
Source: ibtimes.sg
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