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The need for an integrated service

Writer's picture: Amy HanleyAmy Hanley

Updated: Nov 27, 2023

A friend recently sent me the article referenced below, and I thought it would be a great topic for my next blog post.


The plans for the new Cambridge Children's Hospital in England is to integrate both mental and physical healthcare with the goal of significantly improving treatment and outcomes for those with Eating Disorders.


“These are conditions to be taken very seriously. The benefit of having integrated paediatric physical and mental healthcare for children and young people diagnosed with eating disorders is huge,” said Professor Ford.


“If your condition is that severe, you need access to blood tests and the acute medical care that being on an inpatient acute paediatric ward gives you, but at the same time you need the therapeutic environment and support that you would get in a mental health ward.


“What Cambridge Children's Hospital will do is provide both in the same place as opposed to children having to be transferred between locations and only being able to access one part of their care that they need at any one time.


“What we hope is that treating mental and physical health together – a ‘whole child’ approach - will allow us to get children better quicker and get them back to their homes and back attending school, which again will help their ongoing recovery. Children should be in hospital for the shortest possible time.”


This is the kind of thinking I would love to see in Ireland, and what I have been calling for in a connected service.

Many children with eating disorders also suffer from co-occurring conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD, and ASD. Being moved to different facilities, with different staff, and very little connected thinking certainly cannot be beneficial to one's recovery.


As a parent, I had to standby and watch as my child- child - was admitted multiple times to five different facilities in the span of 12 months. I have lost track of how many times she was actually admitted. Imagine changing jobs five times in a year, or moving five times in a year, or switching schools five times in one year. Even as an adult who is more resilient than a child, I would be hard-pressed to cope with that.


I witnessed very little continuity of care between outpatient services, hospital, and inpatient services for my daughter. This was not down to any fault with the professionals or clinicians, it is the way the system fails to function as a whole. I found all of this extremely detrimental to her treatment, and thought if she could have all the professionals and treatments available in one facility, that it would have greatly aided her recovery.


Recovery is not linear, perhaps she would have been admitted a few times, but being admitted back into the same facility with the same team, where she could received both physical and mental health treatment can be nothing but beneficial in my mind.


Reference:

New report highlights increase in number of children and young people with eating disorders.

21 Nov 2023


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