Patients sent to Scotland for eating disorder treatment

Excessive bed shortages in English hospitals is leading to the NHS having to send patients with eating disorders to Scotland for treatment.

Mainly teenagers and young adults, the patients are travelling hundreds of miles from their homes in order to receive residential care in Glasgow and near Edinburgh.

Campaigners, including mental health experts and eating disorder charities, have voiced grave concerns that the practice is adding pressure to vulnerable patients already in a ‘life-threatening situation’.

They argue that this growing trend is damaging patients’ chances of recovery, increasing their sense of isolation through the separation from their families and even increasing their risk of dying.

Genetic factors, personality factors and socio-cultural factors are all recognised as reasons for an increase in the number of young people developing eating disorders.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jane Smith, chief executive of Anorexia and Bulimia Care, said: “I’ve seen a rise in calls from people saying their children have been sent far away, miles away, to be looked after because there are either no services nearby or they are full.

“This is a life-threatening situation for young people. People are in inpatient care because they are at risk of dying. They are in a very fragile, risky state.”

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of Young Minds, added: “It’s extremely distressing for parents to have a child who is so unwell that they require inpatient care, and it’s even worse when they can’t easily visit their child because of long travel distances.

“For many young people the distance from family and friends is one of their biggest fears when they are hospitalised. Being separated from loved ones doesn’t help with recovery and makes the stress of hospitalisation worse.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who recently said NHS children and adolescent mental health services were the NHS’s worst area of care, has criticised the practice as ‘completely unacceptable’.